In Poland, SpaceX has been accused of discriminating against Starlink users
The Polish government believes that the new rules introduced by SpaceX, owned by Elon Musk, create worse conditions for Polish Starlink users than for customers in other European countries.
Poland’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Digital Affairs, Krzysztof Hawkowski, stated that Warsaw has already sent a letter to SpaceX demanding an explanation of the new rules.
“The fact is that SpaceX is changing its rules in Europe, which, unfortunately, treat Poland as a second-class country when it comes to Poles’ use of Starlink services [...] In my opinion, this is a scandal,” Hawkowski said.
On Wednesday morning, Gawkowski also posted a message criticizing SpaceX’s new rules, calling them disadvantageous and unfair to Poles.
According to him, starting August 17, Starlink Roam users from Poland will face additional requirements that do not apply to customers in many other European countries.
“Starting August 17, Poles using Starlink Roam will be treated worse than customers from other European countries: additional formalities, the obligation to report trips, and document checks,” wrote the Polish Deputy Prime Minister.
He noted that SpaceX has not changed similar standards for many other European countries but has imposed new requirements specifically on Poland.
Gawkowski emphasized that Poland should not be placed at a disadvantage, since SpaceX operates in the Polish market and profits from it.
“It cannot be the case that Poland is treated as a second-class country, because we pay, they operate in our market, and SpaceX makes money here,” the minister stated.
He warned that if SpaceX does not respond quickly and revert to the previous standards, Poland may resort to economic countermeasures.
“Poland will also respond in the economic arena,” Gavkovsky noted.
The Polish official also did not rule out that Elon Musk’s personal conflicts with Polish politicians could have been the reason for the new rules.
According to Gawkowski, Musk may have had a falling out with one of the Polish officials or harbored “some other grievance.”
“I, too, have made harsh statements, and many Polish politicians did not agree with the idea that yet another of Mr. Musk’s ‘toys,’ the X platform, would use language models to analyze politicians, the president, or other public figures. Maybe something got into his head again,” said the deputy prime minister.
At the same time, he does not rule out that the new rules may have been introduced due to a simple mistake.
It is worth noting that Elon Musk has repeatedly clashed publicly with Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski.
This was reported by Onet.
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