In social networks, information is spreading more and more that the vice president of Vod Polskie, the son of the famous economist, prof. Leszek Balcerowicz. This is fake news.
When on December 9 the Facebook profile of Business Insider Polska published a text ad about Minister Marcin Kirwinski's negative assessment of Waters Poland's office as “a behemoth not adapted to reality under the rule of PiS”. one netizen commented: “Balcherowicz's son works in Polish waters and is responsible for the flood. It's strange that no one mentions it and everywhere tries to silence it” (original spelling of all writings).
Minister Kirwinski accused PiS of being “political” for the extreme situations that took place in Ladakh-Zdroj and Strony Slaskie during the autumn floods – so the above comment sounded like a “political response” from an offended internet user. However, he was not alone, because the same day a similar message appeared on the site. And when one of the commenters asked: “Are you sure that it is is he?”, he replied, “Yes”. He attached a screenshot of the text with the caption: “Mateusz Balcerowicz is the new deputy head of the Department of Flood and Drought Protection in Polish Waters.” Wadi Polskie published this text on its website on January 12, 2024 did
The content of the message quickly began to spread on social networks – mainly because of a TikTok entry from December 11, which included the information in a graphic with a photo of Vice President Wod Polskie. This image was shared on Facebook and X on December 12-13.
Entries with false information about “Balserovic's son” on media.x.com
Polish waters are reacting, fake news is still spreading
Panstwowe Gospodarstwo Wodne Wody Polskie announced on January 12 that it appointed the Minister of Infrastructure, Mateusz Balcerowicz, as Vice President for Flood and Drought Protection at the company. He was previously the head of the innovation department of the National Agricultural Support Center, and even earlier, among others, in the Ministry of Environment, Ministry of Infrastructure and Masovian Voivodeship. In 2018, he was the vice president for water services at Polish Waters. Since October 2024, he is an expert of the Committee of Water Sciences and Water Management of the Polish Academy of Sciences.
On December 13, Wadi Polski reacted to the spread of information about the alleged father of Vice President Balcerowicz, publishing a denial under some posts with the following content: “#StopFakeNews Vice President of PGW Wadi Polskie Mateusz Balcerowicz is not the son of Leszek Balce.”
However, this did not work – the spread of fake news continued. On December 17, for example, it was published on Facebook. But on December 19, there was a special publication of messages on Facebook with a graphic with a photo of the vice president of Vod Polskie and false information.
A flood of messages with false news about “Balcerowicz's son” can be seen on Facebook on December 19, 2024.
Mateusz Balcerovic: “My father has been dead for 18 years”
Konkret24 contacted Mateusz Balserowicz and asked him to comment on the information spread on social networks. Vice President Wood Polski does not hide his anger at the fake news that is being spread. He says that such insults are not pleasant for him, especially since he is not a politician. “Leszek Balcerowicz is neither my father, nor my uncle, nor my grandfather, and I am not related to him by family,” he says. – It is even more harmful because my father has been dead for 18 years, – adds Mateusz Balcerowicz.
Leszek Balcerowicz (born 1947) is a renowned economist and professor at the Warsaw School of Economics (SGH). Author of more than 100 publications on economics. In September 1989, he became the deputy prime minister and finance minister in the first non-communist government. He developed and implemented a plan for political transformation – known as the Balcerowicz Plan. As the author of economic reforms in Poland after the fall of communism in 1989, he had many critics, especially among right-wing politicians. In 2001-2007, he was the head of the National Bank of Poland and the head of the Monetary and Credit Policy Council. He has sons Makey and Voyseh and a daughter Anna.
On December 20, a statement was published on the Wód Polskie website, which read: “Państwowe Gospodarstwo Wodne Wody Polskie strongly rejects the false information that appears on social media about the family ties of the vice president of Wód Polskie, Mateusz Balserowicz. The news about the relations between the vice-president of Wood Polskie Mateusz Balcerowicz and professor Leszek Balcerowicz are completely wrong and confuse public opinion.
Main photo source: X.com/PAP
