Lidé.cz
Platform · this deep dive is built from the official pages of the platform itself and of the tools that support it.
Overview
Lidé.cz (roughly “LEE-deh cee-zet” in English) is a Czech social network run by the Seznam.cz portal. Its design is unusual: it is not a standalone feed but a layer built on top of the comments under articles on Czech news sites. The platform describes itself as “a social network from Seznam built on cultivated discussion, trustworthy content and a safe environment”.
The Seznam help pages describe its arrival plainly: the network opened in the first half of November, and all discussions under articles on Seznam's content services are transferred to it automatically, together with profiles. The audience did not come from nothing — these are commenters on Czech media who were handed a profile and a feed. The operator is named in the contract: Seznam.cz, a. s., Prague 5 — Smíchov, Radlická 3294/10, IČO 26168685; a single document governs both Seznam Diskuze and Lidé.cz.
Who's here
Lidé.cz has no audience figures of its own. There are two neighbouring numbers, both belonging to Seznam and referring to the portal as a whole: Seznam's sites are visited weekly by more than 95% of the people on the Czech internet — an ad seller's statement about the whole network of sites; and Seznam.cz is visited daily by more than 4.5 million users — the copyright on that page ends at 2021, so the number may be out of date.
The language of the platform is Czech. Phone verification, without which signing in is impossible, works only for numbers from Czech and Slovak operators: that is the effective boundary of the audience. Without signing in, the front page shows a selection of the most discussed topics with shares in percent and a list of the most commented articles from Czech outlets — Novinky.cz, Seznam Zprávy, Super.cz, Stream.cz, Médium.cz and external partners.
Getting started
There is no separate business account, and that matters. The help pages list the entry requirements point by point: you need a Seznam account, a phone number from a Czech or Slovak operator confirmed by SMS, and a real first name and surname stated in the account; on first entering a discussion you have to accept the contractual terms. The contract adds: a user is a person who has reached the age of 15; one phone number confirms exactly one account; you must appear under your real first name and surname, not under a handle.
The only loophole for companies is written into the same document and covers only the discussion service, not Lidé.cz profiles: entrepreneurs and organizations registered on Firmy.cz may use Seznam Diskuze through company profile accounts and appear under the company name.
Separately, you are offered the chance to confirm your identity through BankID or MojeID, or, if that is not available, with a scan of a document with the data blacked out apart from the first name and surname. The contract explains why: users with a high rating may be asked to confirm their identity in exchange for increased visibility; the absence of confirmation may affect the visibility of posts.
What you can publish
The format is short: your own posts of up to 1,600 characters, with photos or links, plus following interesting people. The same limit is visible in the editor's counter on the front page. Formatting is confined to the set given in the help: italics with a single asterisk, bold with a double one, bold italics with a triple one, and numbered and bulleted lists.
Editing is allowed if it does not fundamentally change the meaning, and all versions of a post remain publicly available — the edit history is open here.
The main prohibition for business is set out in a single line: a user may not include advertising messages in their posts. That directly closes off native promotion from a personal profile. An annex to the contract lists everything else that is forbidden: breaking Czech law, insults, defamation and threats of violence, incitement to hatred, vulgar speech including words spelled with dots and asterisks, disclosing non-public data about other participants, impersonating someone else, repeatedly inserting identical posts, and abusing punctuation marks and emoji.
How to grow
The platform is unusually frank about ranking: users' activity and that of their posts is assessed by an automatic algorithm, and this assessment affects the order of posts in a discussion. The second lever is identity confirmation, which, according to the same document, affects visibility.
There is AI in how topics are laid out, too: the launch announcement says that the selection of the most discussed topics is generated with the help of AI, and the contract adds that the operator has the right to categorize posts thematically and to summarize them with artificial intelligence tools, and a user has no right to demand that a post be included in or excluded from a category.
There is no ad manager inside Lidé.cz, but advertising on the platform is sold through Seznam's general network: in the list of placements on the content network, “Lidé” is named alongside Novinky, Sport, Mapy, Stream and Médium.
Some features have not been built yet: the help pages list what will be added gradually — advanced search, tagging people, video sharing, a messenger and creating groups. There are no groups as of our check date — which matters to anyone building a community.
Path to monetization
The platform does not pay authors. The contract calls the service one provided to all users without distinction free of charge; there is no share of ad revenue, no subscriptions to an author and no tips on the pages we checked, and advertising in your own posts is forbidden by that same contract.
The only flow of money around Lidé.cz goes not to authors but to site owners: the developer section offers “content monetization” — Seznam Newsfeed, an ad-serving script and video advertising — with a promise of commission from the ads.
It is worth keeping in mind separately how broad the rights handed over are: by publishing content, a user grants the operator a non-exclusive licence to use it in all known ways, without territorial, quantitative or technological limits, for the term of the economic copyright, with the right to sublicense and assign; they are not obliged to credit authorship.
Tools and automation
There is no public programmatic interface for posting to Lidé.cz. The Seznam developer section lists its tools, and APIs exist only for adjacent services: the Mapy.com API, the Sklik API, the Zboží.cz API, and sign-in with Seznam. For the social network itself what is offered is not writing but reading and embedding.
The first is a post widget: Lide embed lets you insert a post from Lide.cz into your own site or article by copying the URL and adding a few lines of code. The second is a discussion module for external sites: threads and replies, emoji and formatting, reports of unacceptable posts, deleting your own posts, signing in with Seznam E-mail, and advanced administration. It is precisely this that generates the stream of discussions ending up on Lidé.cz.
Limits and rules
Bans are tied to the phone number rather than to the account: a ban is applied through the phone number, and if one number is listed on several accounts, entry is closed for all of them; repeatedly changing your first name and surname may lead to a ban. The contract adds that measures may also be applied to users whose account is confirmed by the same number as the offender's account.
Posts are not forever: the operator has the right to delete, without compensation, the posts of users who have not used the service for more than 12 months. Moderation is combined: checks are carried out by hand by administrators or by automated systems, including AI, the final decision is taken by an administrator, and the operator has the right to mark a post as disputed as to its truthfulness.
The legal frame is European digital services regulation: a substantiated complaint is filed within six months from the day of notification of the decision; the current wording of the terms took effect on 11 November 2025, and changes are announced at least 7 days in advance. A complaint can be filed through Seznam's form under articles 16 and 20 of the DSA, and a moderation report has been published for 11 November — 31 December 2025.
Who it's for
Lidé.cz suits those who work with a Czech audience through public discussion: journalists, experts and public figures whose value is an argument made under their own name. The requirement of a real name and identity confirmation is not an obstacle here but the mechanics of visibility.
The platform suits companies poorly: advertising in your own posts is forbidden by the contract, there is no brand profile, there are no groups, there is no write API and there is no author monetization. There are two lawful ways to be present — an account tied to a Firmy.cz company profile, and only in discussions, or buying advertising through Seznam's general tools. It does not suit you at all if you do not have a Czech or Slovak phone number.
Verified data
The checked data this deep dive rests on.
About the platform
the platform describes itself as follows: «Sociální síť od Seznamu, která staví na kultivované debatě, důvěryhodném obsahu a bezpečném prostředí.»
Self-description: this is the platform's claim about itself, not an independent assessment
source, checked 2026-07-28
the platform describes itself as follows: «Sociální síť od Seznamu, která staví na kultivované debatě, důvěryhodném obsahu a bezpečném prostředí»
source, checked 2026-07-28
the operator is Seznam.cz, a. s., Prague 5 — Smíchov, Radlická 3294/10, IČO 26168685
A single agreement governs Seznam Diskuze and Lidé.cz
source, checked 2026-07-28
the network opened in the first half of November 2025; discussions attached to articles on Seznam's content services and user profiles are being moved onto it automatically
The current version of the terms took effect on 11.11.2025
source, checked 2026-07-28
Who's here
Seznam reports that its sites are visited weekly by more than 95% of the people on the Czech internet
A claim by an advertising seller about the whole network of sites, not about Lidé.cz
source, checked 2026-07-28
Seznam reports more than 4.5 million users a day
The page's copyright ends at 2021; it refers to the portal, not to the social network
source, checked 2026-07-28
Getting started
to sign in you need a Seznam account, a phone number from a Czech or Slovak operator confirmed by SMS, and a real first name and surname in the account
Confirmation is possible only for Czech and Slovak numbers
source, checked 2026-07-28
Account and access
a user is a person who has reached the age of 15
source, checked 2026-07-28
a user is obliged to appear under their real first name and surname rather than under a nickname; one phone number means one account
source, checked 2026-07-28
identity is confirmed through BankID or MojeID, or by a scan of a document with everything covered except the first name and surname
source, checked 2026-07-28
Business terms
entrepreneurs and organisations registered on Firmy.cz can use Seznam Diskuze through company profile accounts and appear under the company's name
Only for Seznam Diskuze, not for Lidé.cz profiles
source, checked 2026-07-28
What you can publish
a post of your own is up to 1600 characters, with photographs or links
The same limit is visible in the editor's counter on the front page
source, checked 2026-07-28
italic (*), bold (), bold italic (*) and numbered and bulleted lists are supported
source, checked 2026-07-28
Content
a user may not include advertising messages in their posts
The key restriction on commercial activity
source, checked 2026-07-28
editing is allowed if it does not fundamentally change the meaning; all versions of a post remain publicly available
source, checked 2026-07-28
content is checked by hand by administrators and by automated systems, including AI; the operator has the right to mark a post as disputed and to categorize posts thematically with the help of AI
source, checked 2026-07-28
Promotion
the activity of users and of posts is scored by an automated algorithm, and that score affects the order of posts in a discussion
source, checked 2026-07-28
users with a high rating may be asked to confirm their identity in exchange for increased visibility; the absence of confirmation may affect the visibility of posts
source, checked 2026-07-28
Advertising
«Lidé» is listed among the placements of Seznam's content network alongside Novinky, Sport, Mapy, Stream and Médium
Lidé.cz has no ad manager of its own
source, checked 2026-07-28
How the money works here
There is no separate rule about affiliate links, but advertising in posts is forbidden entirely, and therefore links for the sake of earning are too. The contractual terms, point 3.3: "Uživatel není oprávněn do svých příspěvků zahrnovat reklamní sdělení" — "the user is not entitled to include advertising messages in their posts". The rules forbid "zneužívat diskuze k šíření reklamy a/nebo spamu" — "to abuse discussions for the dissemination of advertising and/or spam". About outbound links there is a separate point: it is forbidden "vkládat odkazy na stránky porušující právní řád ČR a/nebo odkazy na weby se sporným či konspiračním obsahem, které jsou například vedeny na seznamu NFNZ či iniciativ Nelež a Konspiratori.sk, přičemž není dovoleno ani vkládat převzaté texty z těchto stránek" — "to insert links to pages violating the legal order of the Czech Republic and/or links to sites with disputed or conspiratorial content which are listed, for example, by NFNZ or by the initiatives Nelež and Konspiratori.sk; nor is it allowed to insert texts reprinted from these pages"
our translation; the original is in Czech; the terms are issued by Seznam.cz, a. s. and extend directly to "službu Lidé.cz dostupné na internetové adrese www.lide.cz"; the ban on links is tied to external lists of unreliable sites, not to their commercial character
source, checked 2026-08-04
Commercial content in users' posts is forbidden (point 3.3, "reklamní sdělení"). An exception is made for entrepreneurs: "V souladu s těmito Podmínkami mohou být Uživateli, a to výlučně jen pro službu Seznam Diskuze, také inzerující podnikatelé či subjekty registrovaní a užívající účet na službě Firmy.cz" — "in accordance with these terms, Users, and exclusively for the Seznam Diskuze service only, may also be advertising entrepreneurs or entities registered on and using an account on the Firmy.cz service". The service is provided free of charge, entry is only with a verified telephone number: "jedno telefonní číslo by mělo být využíváno k ověření právě jednoho uživatelského účtu"
our translation; the original is in Czech; the exception for advertisers operates only on Seznam Diskuze, but not on Lidé.cz
source, checked 2026-08-04
the service is provided free of charge; no author payout programmes are described on the pages checked
Advertising in one's own posts is prohibited by the same agreement
source, checked 2026-07-28
Limits and restrictions
as of the check date there are no groups, messenger, video, tagging of people or advanced search; the platform promises to add them later
source, checked 2026-07-28
Restrictions
a ban is applied through the phone number: if one number is on several accounts, entry is closed for all of them; repeatedly changing your first name and surname may lead to a ban
source, checked 2026-07-28
the operator has the right to delete without compensation the posts of users who have not used the service for more than 12 months
source, checked 2026-07-28
forbidden are breaking Czech law, insults, defamation, threats of violence, incitement to hatred, vulgarity (including words with dots and asterisks), disclosing non-public data, impersonation, repeatedly inserting identical posts, and an excess of punctuation marks and emoji
Annex No. 1 to the terms
source, checked 2026-07-28
Legal
by publishing content a user grants the operator a non-exclusive licence without territorial, quantitative or technological limits for the term of the economic copyright, with the right to sublicense and to assign; attribution of authorship is not required
source, checked 2026-07-28
a notification mechanism under Articles 16 and 20 of the DSA is in place; a reasoned complaint is submitted within six months of the day the decision was notified
The submission form is on the Seznam site
source, checked 2026-07-28
a moderation report under articles 15 and 24 of the DSA has been published for the period 11.11.2025–31.12.2025
We did not open the report file itself
source, checked 2026-07-28
API access
there is no public write API; what is offered is a Lide embed widget for inserting a post into a third-party site and the Seznam Diskuze discussion module
The second source is https://vyvojari.seznam.cz/diskuze
source, checked 2026-07-28
Languages
the interface language of the home page: cs
The language is taken from the markup attribute, the versions from hreflang
source, checked 2026-07-28
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