Palantir has faced a legal setback in Switzerland
What's the story
Palantir, a leading US technology company, has lost a legal battle against a Swiss independent magazine. The case was centered around the publication of counterstatements by the company in response to articles detailing how the Swiss government rejected its services. The Zurich commercial court ruled largely against Palantir's requests for counterstatements from both itself and its Swiss subsidiary, ruling only one passage in one article warranted a published response from the company.
Case background
Lawsuit was triggered by a year-long investigation
The lawsuit was triggered by a year-long investigation published in December by Republik and the Swiss research collective WAV. The study revealed that despite being in Switzerland for nearly four years, Palantir had not secured any government contracts. This "failure narrative" led to questions about the necessity of its technology from British MPs and other governments, even though Palantir claimed Switzerland wasn't a key target for its regional business growth.
Legal proceedings
Palantir demanded a detailed rebuttal from the journalists
In response to the articles, Palantir demanded a detailed rebuttal from the journalists, which they refused. This led to the company filing a lawsuit in a Swiss commercial court. While Swiss media law does allow subjects of a story to ask for a right of reply, it has conditions: the right must be concise and stick strictly to facts of the original story.
Ruling details
Palantir to pay 95% of court costs
The court has ordered Palantir to pay 95% of the SFr9,000 ($11,000) court costs and an additional SFr9,900 in legal expenses to Republik. Neither Republik nor WAV are large outlets and the court case consumed a significant amount of their resources. Jennifer Steiner, co-founder of WAV and one of the investigators said, "It was a lot of work and time invested. After four months waiting for a verdict, it's good to have such a ruling now."
Publication order
What did Palantir say?
The court also ordered Republik to publish a short counterstatement from Palantir disputing the claim that its Foundry software platform was originally developed for US counter-insurgency operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. In response to this ruling, Palantir said, "We welcome that the Zurich commercial court confirmed our right to publish a counterstatement. It's a critical part of open debate in our society to hear both sides on important topics."