In November 2016, some time before most Americans became alarmed at censorship in social media, I sued Facebook. If you haven’t heard about this landmark case, that is understandable, because I sued in a Polish court.

I charged that, by suppressing open communication, the Silicon Valley giant had violated my rights under the Polish Constitution. After years of Facebook’s procedural delays, this past week, my case received its first judicial hearing.

Because of decades of savage Soviet and Nazi oppression, the free flow of information and opinion is perhaps an even more sacred constitutional principle in Poland than in the United States. As a teenager during the Solidarity strikes of 1980, I would sit with my ear to my radio, trying to hear Radio Free Europe and Voice of America through the howl of Soviet jammers. In Eastern Europe in those days, communist authorities censored everything, even laundry slips, let alone news. They strictly regulated access to information.

Poles who experienced communism are particularly sensitive to any attempt at stealing from the national patrimony the guarantee of "acquiring information." This is why the Polish Constitution — instituted after the 1993 withdrawal of occupying Soviet Russian forces — includes blanket protections for the unrestricted flow of information in all kinds of media. Poland’s dual provisions are in fact more explicit than those of the U.S. Constitution.

The first one protects stating and receiving opinions and information: “Everyone shall be guaranteed the freedom to express his views and to obtain and disseminate information.”

The second bans preventive censorship of any medium by any party. It says, “Preventive censorship of the means of social communication and the licensing of the press are prohibited. ..."

In short, Poles not only demand to speak their views freely. We also insist on hearing the views and intentions of others, not to mention what is happening throughout the world. Free access to information is a basic right which we demand and which our laws guarantee.

In November 2016, as I do every year at that time, I was looking for information on how to participate in the anniversary celebration of Poland’s restored independence — the celebration of how, a century ago, Poland won independence after 123 years of Russian, German, and Austrian occupation. Nov. 11 is our Fourth of July. I turned to Facebook, which, particularly among Poles, was and remains the most common medium for conveying information in the world, used by 25% of humanity. Oddly, I could not find anything about the annual Independence March.

That's because, without warning or explanation, Facebook had suspended the accounts of those organizing the event. I soon discovered that, for Facebook, Polish expressions of joy at regaining our long-lost independence were unacceptable, just as they had been for the communists during the Cold War years and for the Nazis in World War II. But then, watching Facebook’s representatives these last few years, I have begun to wonder if this global giant has not copied our long-time occupiers.

At the first June 5 hearing, after unsuccessfully trying to move my case to California, Facebook's corporate attorneys demanded that the process be kept secret. They did not care that in Poland, we threw out communism and its secret trials. The judge rejected this request as well.

Then, they argued that I had no right to sue Facebook, because when Facebook suspended the accounts related to Independence Day, they did so to everyone, not just me.

Of course, anyone who has a Facebook account knows that everyone on the site is easily identified by name, age, sex, home, workplace, and dozens of other traits and tastes, including, in my case, Polish patriotism. I guess in America, you would say to Facebook’s attorneys, “Nice try, but no cigar.” The next hearing is scheduled for Oct. 30.

Both in the U.S. and Europe, there is growing alarm at the power of Facebook, Twitter, and Google. These corporations command resources and influence capable of overwhelming entire nation states. What are the relations to be between citizens living in democratically governed communities and these seemingly untouchable and autocratic empires?

The Polish people are proud of their heritage. Poland is one of the oldest democracies. It produced the first free constitution in Europe (which Russia suspended following its 1792 conquest) and the second in the world, after America’s. Are we now to surrender our freedoms to Silicon Valley’s imperial billionaires?

I hope that our legal process will teach this bullying corporation to respect the right of citizens to govern their own nation states. I hope they will be stopped from ignoring our laws, national traditions, and cultural achievements, and from censoring our people in violation of our constitution.

Maciej Świrski is the former vice president of the Polish National Foundation.