Offensive tweets cost Dubai villa owner Dh100,000
Court orders defendant who insulted construction firm and its manager to pay compensation
Dubai: Dubai Courts ordered a man to pay Dh100,000 compensation to a construction company for posting offensive tweets that defamed the company and its manager.
According to official records, the manager had launched a civil case against the defendant asking for Dh10.1 million compensation after the defendant had posted tweets on his personal account laughing and insulting the manager and his company.
The defendant had assigned the company to build his villa in Dubai. Later, a dispute arose between the two sides.
The company filed a commercial case against the defendant for failing to complete the payment for building the villa. The defendant then made clips insulting the company and the manager and posted them on Twitter.
Insulting hashtags
The victim testified that the defendant called him a “swindler, loser, and thief” in the tweets and defamed the company, which affected its reputation and business.
A report by Dubai Police showed the tweets, which were about “problems” in the company’s work on the villa, with pictures including insulting text and hashtags.
During interrogation, the defendant admitted that it was his Twitter account and he is the only one using the account for tweets.
Dubai Court of First Instance had cleared the defendant of making insults online but the Appeal Court overturned the verdict and ordered a fine of Dh3,000.
The manager then filed a civil case for compensation and the court ordered the defendant to pay Dh100,000.