Is black public relations allowed?

Black PR (czarny public relations) to celowe niszczenie reputacji firmy, osoby lub produktu przez rozpowszechnianie nieprawdziwych albo wprowadzających w błąd informacji. Jest sprzeczny z etyką zawodu, a w Polsce może naruszać przepisy o nieuczciwej konkurencji i o ochronie dóbr osobistych. Gdy firma staje się celem takich działań, pomaga szybkie zabezpieczenie dowodów, rzeczowa odpowiedź i pomoc prawnika.

Public relations is based on honesty, integrity, and truthfulness. Yet there is an area where communication harms others. Are such actions allowed? Is the result worth the risk? And what exactly does black public relations entail? We answer these questions, and at the same time show how to recognize an attack and how to defend against it.

What is black public relations?

Black PR refers to actions aimed at destroying the reputation or image of a company, a person, a product, an organization, or even an entire nation. Various tools are used to achieve this. Most often, it involves presenting misleading and false information about competitors, including publishing negative ads.

It is also common practice to disseminate false or unilaterally biased information to the public in order to undermine competition. Another is the dissemination of false opinions about a product or service. Crisis management is one of the areas that a PR agency deals with. If your company has been victim of dishonest practices, and especially false information, read our article on how to deal with it: end the spiral of false information about your company.

Black, white and grey PR – what are the differences?

The line between gray and black PR is often thin. If someone hides who is behind a communication but the information is true, it is unfair to the recipients, but it is not always illegal. If the information is false and intended to harm, we are dealing with black PR.

What techniques are used in black PR?

Techniques change along with the media, but the pattern is similar. Below are the most common forms that are encountered in business, politics, and the internet (black hat SEO on the internet is today the majority of cases).

• Fake opinions. Entries of alleged customers on review portals, in maps and on social media. They can be negative (disparaging the competitor’s rating) or positive (overstating one’s own).
• Spreading rumors. False information about the financial status, the quality of the product or the people managing the company, communicated to journalists, partners or employees.
• Massive counterattacks. Many accounts, often automated or created for a single purpose, comment on company posts in a similar way to create the impression of widespread outrage.
• Quotes and photos taken out of context. The real material is cut in such a way that it changes its meaning.
• Anonymous leaflets, pages and recordings. Content without a signature that is difficult to attribute to the broadcaster.
• Fake „leaks”. Alleged documents or correspondence whose authenticity cannot be quickly verified.

The common feature of all these actions is the concealment of the true sender and the lies or manipulation. Therefore, they are distinguished from honest criticism: criticism is based on facts and has an author, while black PR attacks facts do not have an author and conceal the author.

Examples in business and politics

Unfortunately, black public relations is a common phenomenon. The simplest example is a fired employee who defames their former employer, for example on social media. Political parties and politicians often resort to this tactic as well. In campaigns, they focus on highlighting the negative qualities of the opponent instead of on their own program. In such cases, propaganda, psychological manipulation, or simple deception are used. Just look at the advertisements of major election campaigns, both domestically and abroad, to see elements of such practices.

Examples from the life of companies (model situations)

The following situations are described in general terms, based on typical patterns. They do not apply to specific companies.

• Local service company Over the course of a few days, the company notices dozens of one-star reviews on the maps. All of them have similar language and have appeared from new accounts. The company checks if the described customers exist in its database, reports the reviews to the platform, and collects evidence.
• Manufacturer A journalist asks for a question about the alleged test results that were never conducted. The question stems from an anonymous email sent to several newsrooms. The company publishes the response with the sources and sends it to all the newsrooms.
• The company before a significant transaction It becomes the target of anonymous posts on forums about alleged financial troubles. The management and the legal advisor are preparing a statement and reporting the case to the prosecutor's office.

Is black PR legal?

The very concept of „black PR” does not appear in the regulations, but the specific actions that constitute it may violate the law. Below are the regulations that most often come into play. We checked their wording on October 5, 2026, in the draft texts of laws on the arslege.pl portal.

• Law on combating unfair competition, Art. 14. Unfair competition consists in disseminating false or misleading information about oneself or another entrepreneur or company, with the aim of gaining advantage or causing harm. This applies in particular to information about the persons running the business, about goods and services, about prices, and about the economic or legal situation.
• Criminal Code, Art. 212 (defamation). Anyone who persuades a person, a group of people, an institution, or a legal entity to take action or adopt a position that could bring them into disrepute in the public eye is subject to a fine or restriction of liberty. If the perpetrator acts through the use of mass media, the penalty also includes imprisonment for up to one year. These cases are prosecuted through a private prosecution, meaning the victim must file a request.
• Civil Code – protection of personal property. Good personal character includes, among other things, a good reputation and honor. Civil law regulations allow for demanding cessation of violations, rectification, and compensation.

This information is general in nature and does not replace legal advice. In a specific case, the assessment of a lawyer is decisive, because the details are important: whether the statement is an opinion or a statement of fact, who published it, and for what purpose.

How do you recognise a black PR attack?

Not every criticism is an attack. A reliable, even harsh, customer opinion is not black PR. However, there are signals that are worth knowing that indicate an attack:

• in a short time, many similar posts appear,
• The accounts that publish them are new, without any history or photos.,
• the charges do not have details (dates, names, order numbers) or the details are false,
• the information appears in several places simultaneously, for example on the forum, in maps and in emails to journalists,
• The attack coincides with an important event in the company, such as a launch, tender or transaction,
• the news repeats the same phrase or the same mistake.

One tip is not enough. Only a few signals at once justify the suspicion that an organized operation is behind the posts. Continuous monitoring (tracking mentions of the company) helps detect it, described in the text as well. PR tools.

What to do when your company is the target of an attack?

The first hours decide whether the case will go away or get worse. Below is a plan that can be implemented without an extensive team.

1. Secure the evidence. Take screenshots with the date and address of the page, save the URLs, and the account names. Don't delete anything and don't respond in an emotional manner.
2. Establish the facts. What is true, what is false, and what is truth taken out of context? Check the documents, orders, and correspondence.
3. Decide whether to respond. With a single false comment, it is enough to report it to the platform. With a mass attack or message in the media, an official response is required.
4. Report the violation. Portals and platforms have forms for reporting false opinions and content that violates the rules. Attach evidence.
5. Contact a lawyer. Consider calling for the cessation of violations, rectification, or reporting of a crime.
6. Prepare a short answer. Facts, sources, contact for the media. No attack on the author.
7. Inform your own people. Employees, partners, and key clients should hear about the matter from the company before reading about it online.
8. Monitor the consequences. Check whether the information is spreading, who is repeating it and how the recipients react.

The rules for working in crisis situations, including the preparation of statements and the assessment of the seriousness of the matter, are described in the text about crisis in the brand's image. When contacting the editorial departments, the tips in the guide on Press release.

What not to do

• Don't repay with the same thing. The counterattack brings the company to the level of an aggressor and it can itself violate the law.
• Do not delete critical customer comments. Eliminating a real opinion looks like hiding the problem and usually promotes it.
• Do not answer anonymously. Writing „under a different name” in the face of an attack is therefore what you are defending against.
• Don't ignore a situation by thinking that it will quiet down on its own. False information repeated for several weeks begins to look like a fact.
• Don't promise more than you know you can deliver. If you don’t already know all the facts, write down what has already been determined and when the company will provide further information.

How to protect yourself in advance?

Protection against black PR is like protection against a fire: it costs little when it starts early. A few actions that reduce the risk and shorten the response time:

• Our own, current sources of truth. Corporate websites, press offices, and social media profiles with reliable information about the company, its people, and its offerings. Search engines and AI tools that answer questions about companies use such materials.
• Constant monitoring. Alerts with the names of companies, brands and managers.
• Instrukcja kryzysowa. Krótki dokument: kto ocenia sytuację, kto mówi do mediów, kto kontaktuje się z prawnikiem.
• Zdrowa baza opinii. Prawdziwe opinie klientów zbierane systematycznie sprawiają, że pojedyncze fałszywe ataki mniej ważą.
• Dobre relacje z mediami. Dziennikarz, który zna firmę i ufa jej rzecznikowi, sprawdzi informację przed publikacją. Opisujemy to w tekście o media relations.
• Zgodna komunikacja wewnętrzna. Najczęstszym źródłem wycieków są niezadowoleni lub niedoinformowani pracownicy.

Warto pamiętać, że uczciwy PR nie polega na przemilczaniu problemów. Firma, która sama mówi o swoich błędach i je naprawia, trudniej pada ofiarą oszczerstw, bo nie ma czego „ujawniać”.

Driving license: what to write down when you encounter an attack

Dobrze prowadzona dokumentacja ułatwia rozmowę z platformą, prawnikiem i organami ścigania. Poniższa tabela może posłużyć jako prosty szablon, który wypełnia osoba odpowiedzialna za sprawę.

Czarny PR a wyszukiwarki i odpowiedzi narzędzi AI

Fałszywe informacje nie znikają, gdy minie fala oburzenia. Mogą zostać w wynikach wyszukiwania, w archiwach i w tekstach, z których korzystają narzędzia odpowiadające na pytania o firmy. Dlatego po ataku warto zadbać o to, żeby w sieci istniało rzetelne, łatwe do znalezienia źródło prawdy: strona z oświadczeniem, aktualna informacja o firmie i odpowiedzi na najczęstsze pytania. Co pewien czas sprawdź, jak firma jest opisywana w wynikach wyszukiwania i w odpowiedziach popularnych narzędzi AI, i zapisz, jeśli pojawiają się nieprawdziwe stwierdzenia. Takie zapisy mogą się przydać przy zgłaszaniu błędu dostawcy usługi.

Dlaczego czarny PR się nie opłaca?

Pokusa jest zrozumiała: konkurent wygrywa przetarg, a atak wydaje się tani. Rachunek jest jednak niekorzystny. Po pierwsze, ślady cyfrowe często pozwalają ustalić autora. Po drugie, odpowiedzialność prawna może objąć także zlecającego, a nie tylko wykonawcę. Po trzecie, klienci i partnerzy pamiętają, kto sięga po takie metody, a rynek branżowy bywa mały. Po czwarte, firma, która buduje przewagę kosztem innych, nie buduje własnej marki. Uczciwa przewaga – lepsza oferta, wyraźna komunikacja, dowody jakości – trwa dłużej i nie wymaga ukrywania nadawcy.

How does Commplace help?

Commplace pomaga firmom przygotować się na ataki na reputację i prowadzić komunikację w ich trakcie: od oceny sytuacji i monitoringu, przez oświadczenia i kontakt z mediami, po odbudowę zaufania. Opis usług znajdziesz na stronie crisis management. Ogólne zasady budowania wiarygodności firmy opisujemy w ramach usługi public relations.

Do szybkiego wychwytywania niepokojących sygnałów służy kokpit Commwork®AI, który zbiera wzmianki, ton wypowiedzi i widoczność firmy w jednym miejscu. Każdą negatywną wzmiankę ocenia człowiek, a decyzję o odpowiedzi podejmuje zawsze osoba odpowiedzialna za sprawę.

Źródła: arslege.pl – tekst art. 14 ustawy o zwalczaniu nieuczciwej konkurencji oraz art. 212 kodeksu karnego, sprawdzono 5.10.2026; opracowanie redakcji bloga Commplace.