In today's global information environment, disinformation has become a common tool for undermining the values of democracy and destabilising international relations. It is especially in cyberspace that its mass character poses an unprecedented threat. It has a negative impact on Poland’s national security and interests abroad. That is why it is necessary to take more coordinated action nationally and globally to prevent and counteract the effects of disinformation.

The new plenipotentiary will be responsible for implementing a strategy and coordinating measures aimed at identifying, monitoring, and countering foreign disinformation. His task will be to cooperate with international partners and organisations countering disinformation and to coordinate joint action with national public offices and institutions, as well as with non-governmental organisations to exchange information, experience, and best practices.

In his foreign policy address delivered in the Sejm, Minister Radosław Sikorski underlined that the fight against international disinformation requires joint efforts and commitment of different actors, on both national and international levels. The appointment of a plenipotentiary for countering international disinformation is a step in this very direction.

Tomasz Chłoń has served in the diplomatic service for more than 30 years. He was Poland’s Ambassador to Estonia and Slovakia, headed the Department for the United Nations System at the MFA, and worked in the Permanent Delegation of the Republic of Poland to NATO. The new plenipotentiary was Director of the NATO Information Office in Moscow which he headed from the NATO Headquarters in Brussels. He is also a researcher at the Polish Centre for Technology Development (PORT).