Warsaw’s criticism of TVN has been a bipartisan sore spot in Polish-American relations for years. Although ties between the two countries generally warmed under Donald Trump, his ambassador clashed with the government over the media issue.

President Biden has been a clumsier manager of the relationship. Last year he referred to Poland alongside Belarus as “totalitarian”—a damaging and ignorant comment. Poles also worry about a lack of consultation over White House outreach to Russia’s Vladimir Putin. But the U.S. State Department was right to knock the bill after its passage.

The American left’s criticism of Poland is often overwrought. The country still has a free press, and it’s not one dumb law away from becoming Belarus. Sovereign nations also have a right to decide who invests in their countries, and Law and Justice says comparable laws exist elsewhere in the European Union. But the argument that the bill is meant to limit the influence of hostile nations like Russia and China doesn’t hold up.

Targeting an American investment is doubly insulting. The U.S., through NATO, is treaty bound to send Americans to fight and die for Polish security. Washington will have to be stern in its condemnation without blowing up the relationship with its most important ally on NATO’s eastern flank.

The bill can’t become law without Polish President Andrzej Duda’s signature. He previously has said media reform is best “carried out on a market basis.” His veto would send an important message amid Mr. Putin’s recent threats against Central and Eastern Europe.

Poland’s rise has been one of the great economic and political success stories since the end of the Cold War. Now more than ever, Warsaw should want to underscore its differences with nearby authoritarians.