A Polish Youtuber, with around one million subscribers, was paid circa $30,000 by the Central Bank of Poland, in collaboration with the Polish Financial Supervision Authority, to portray cryptocurrencies in a negative light without disclosing the payment in the video.
Marcin Dubiel, whose video “I lost all my money” has half a million views, portrays cryptocurrencies as a way to get rich quick, to only find out he had no money to pay for a date at a restaurant and was generally left penniless due to cryptocurrency investments.
The video’s description contains the hashtag #uważajnakryptowaluty, a website by Poland’s Central Bank and FCA which portrays digital currencies as risky, having no guarantee, and not classified as electronic money.
The Central Bank of Poland has admitted that “it carried out a campaign on the issue of virtual currencies in social media,” without providing any further comment on the matter.
Nor do they explain why their paid advertising was undisclosed in the video by Marcin Dubiel, who is just one among others who received such payments, including Planeta Faktów, a Youtube channel with 1.5 million subscribers.
The legality of this action by Poland’s Central Bank is unclear as usually, within a democracy, it is illegal for state actors or contractors to engage in propaganda directed at their own citizens.
Whether the video in question can so be classified is probably a grey line, but from a visual perspective the story telling appears to be highly biased, portraying Dubiel as a victim of an evil mastermind who counts the cash Dubiel lost.
So subtly emphasizing that fiat printed by the Central Bank is what has value, even though it is backed by nothing, not even mining energy or computer code. And less subtly they have Dubiel’s girlfriend dump him because the pizzeria would not accept crypto, so she had to pay for the date with fiat.
Poland’s lack of access, in general, to English language information might make them especially susceptible to such propaganda, but that the Central Bank has found it fit to take such action does suggest one of the least technologically advanced country in Eastern Europe, with a paltry internet speed ranking of 41, is so for a reason.
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Tim February 18, 2018 at 9:13 am
Yep….sheep will follow their master
Mark February 18, 2018 at 10:33 am
“Poland’s lack of access, in general, to English language information”
Dude.. Everyone knows English here and everyone’s aware how laughable this campaign is. Rest assured, we’re very well informed 🙂
ampareitor February 18, 2018 at 11:47 am
I can’t really agree with this. For the target audience this campaigns was aimed to, English might really be a big impediment
paradoks February 20, 2018 at 2:02 pm
@up Though audience you have in mind are not really impacted by youtubers as well… 😉
Michael Furmaniak February 19, 2018 at 5:56 pm
This is not true at all. I was born in Poland and still have some family there. Not “everyone” by any stretch of imagination!
Greg February 18, 2018 at 11:32 am
It Has do mamy views cause everybody wanted to see stupidity of their idea.
Krypsy February 18, 2018 at 11:36 am
People debunked this campaign. Bitcoin awareness in Poland is pretty solid. That’s why our central bank is so scared.
hoek February 21, 2018 at 5:05 pm
That’s true!
kaka February 18, 2018 at 11:48 am
poland very poor, doesnt matter waht they do!
TalkBitcoins February 23, 2018 at 3:05 am
But still, it shows how threatened the scammy-minded banks have become
Luke February 18, 2018 at 1:29 pm
“one of the least technologically advanced country in Eastern Europe, with a paltry internet speed ranking of 41” – pretty bad indicator of the technology progress, taking into account only internet speed, no other factors. Take a look at official EU data that shows aider approach to the problem of internet access.
About campaign, I’m disgusted how bad it is and how (as I assume) public money were spent. They could make a better campaign, more informative.
mediafun February 18, 2018 at 4:38 pm
Details and “investigation” (in Polish): http://www.mediafun.pl/uwazajnakryptowaluty-ktos-tu-oszukuje/
olaboga February 19, 2018 at 7:46 am
democracy in Poland…dear Lord please clean that mess
maniek February 19, 2018 at 11:35 am
Last paragraph basically wanted to state, that there are polar bears on streets of Poland, and we just discovered water. Polands banking system is far more advanced then anything in Europe, not to mention middle aged US or Canada. Google pay and Apple pay were not even close to being successful because every bank got solution more advanced and more mature.
Get you head out of your ass, and maybe you will learn how to base your articles on facts, Otherwise you spread not better bullshit, then they do.
Michael Furmaniak February 19, 2018 at 6:00 pm
Do not make me lough. I was born in Poland and dealt with Polish banking system a few years ago when my parents passed away. I was also visiting many times in the past. Polish banking system is slow and inefficient, as many other things there.
Rupert February 20, 2018 at 1:58 pm
Actually internet polish banking system is one of the best in the world – at the same time “traditional” one is laughable, maybe you talk about this one 🙂 I’ve used american, english and some asian systems by internet – where it’s difficult or impossible to recognize transactions. Different story.
Adam May 29, 2019 at 4:02 pm
„Poland’s lack of access, in general, to English language information”. – what idiot wrote this article?!