Mateusz Morawiecki, leader of the European Conservatives and Reformists, has won a personal rights protection case in court. Civic Platform has been ordered to issue a formal apology.
The District Court in Warsaw has ruled that Civic Platform must publish the following apology on its official profile on X.com:
“APOLOGY
Civic Platform of the Republic of Poland hereby apologizes to Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki for violating his personal rights in posts/recordings published and distributed on the social media platform Twitter on February 13, 2023. The violation consisted of disseminating a manipulated statement attributed to the plaintiff — namely, ‘Poland is ready to unfreeze and improve Polish-Russian relations’ — presented as the plaintiff’s own view, whereas this quote was in fact part of a larger context. This apology is being published as a result of losing a court case.”
The post is to remain pinned on Civic Platform’s profile for 21 days.
Additionally, the court ordered Civic Platform to pay 20,000 PLN to Caritas Polska. The party must also cover the legal costs of the proceedings.
Blatant Manipulation
The lawsuit was triggered by a manipulative political ad posted by Civic Platform on social media in February 2023.
“Poland is ready to unfreeze and improve Polish-Russian relations,” says Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki in the Civic Platform ad.
However, this was a snippet taken out of a longer statement — and more importantly, the quoted words were originally spoken by… Donald Tusk.
“On February 8, 2008, Donald Tusk visited President Putin and said at that time — exactly 15 years ago — that Poland is ready to unfreeze and improve Polish-Russian relations,” Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki stated on February 8, 2023.
After the manipulation was exposed, Civic Platform removed the video from its social media channels.