WARSAW 

Around 94,000 anti-Ukrainian social media posts reaching a total audience of 32.5 million, around 80% of Poland’s population, were identified on Polish-language social media between April and July, according to a report by the Demagog and the Institute of Media Monitoring (IMM).

The IMM said the advertising value was equivalent to 12 million Polish zlotys ($3.3 million).

The narratives link Ukrainians to sabotage inside Poland, allegations of anti-Polish genocide in World War II, while some suggest that 10% of Ukrainian refugees in Poland today have ties to terrorist groups.

The media watchdog said such narratives also tend to overlap with pro-Russian disinformation.

The report appeared as Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski is due to meet US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Miami Tuesday to discuss NATO’s eastern flank security and peace in Ukraine.

On Wednesday, talks in Washington are also scheduled between Polish President Karol Nawrocki and US President Donald Trump.

Since the election of the nationalist-aligned president in June, Poland’s stance towards Ukraine appears to have bifurcated along party lines with Sikorski’s visit seen in some quarters as a riposte to Trump’s invitation to Ukraine-skeptic Nawrocki.

Researchers from the IMM, a fact-checking association, tracked 18 keywords such as "Stop the Ukrainianization of Poland" widely used in narratives on US social media company X, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and online forums. X accounted for 92% of the identified posts, while Facebook 1%.

“We see external actors, such as Belarusian and Russian outlets, driving messages meant to frighten Poles about Ukrainians," Michal Marek of the National Research Institute (NASK) told state news agency PAP.

"But it is the internal disinformation networks that generate the largest reach, and the two factors reinforce each other,” he said, adding that the report also highlighted the role of Polish far-right figures such as Grzegorz Braun of the Confederation party.

Poland accuses Russia and its ally Belarus of conducting a hybrid form of warfare in which propagation of anti-Ukrainian narratives is designed to inflame historical anti-Ukrainian sentiment in Poland and weaken support for Ukraine in Warsaw and more widely across the EU.