Filip Turek apologizes to Seznam.cz following court ruling

Czech MP and Motorist party leader Filip Turek has issued a court-ordered apology to the company Seznam.cz. The apology follows a lawsuit regarding Turek’s claims on the Xaver Live channel that Seznam employees monitor users' private emails.

In a video posted to social media, Turek stated that his claim—that anyone working at the company could view emails—was “untrue and unsubstantiated.” However, the apology was delivered with an ironic tone. Turek criticized the company’s legal team for pursuing a lawsuit over a three-second statement and suggested that the legal costs outweighed the benefits. He further criticized the government for cutting hundreds of millions of crowns from state media campaigns, noting that Seznam was a recipient of such funds.

The Municipal Court in Prague ruled that Turek failed to respond to the lawsuit within the deadline, effectively acknowledging the right to an apology. Turek has also had to issue a separate apology to the environmental organization Hnutí Duha for previous unsubstantiated claims regarding the group.