Dubai court orders Dh20,000 payout for WhatsApp insults

 Dubai: The Dubai Court of First Instance has ordered a man to pay Dh20,000 in compensation after he was convicted of insulting another individual through messages posted in a WhatsApp group.

The ruling, issued in a public session on February 25, 2026, followed a final criminal judgment that had already found the defendant guilty of using an information technology means to direct defamatory and insulting remarks at the claimant.

Court records show that the dispute stemmed from messages sent between June and July 2025, in which the defendant posted offensive expressions about the claimant in a WhatsApp group chat.

The offensive posts included ; “Tell him on my behalf that he is stupid…”, “They are all a group of idiots…”, “We have a common predator.”.

The defendant was convicted and fined Dh5,000. The criminal court also ordered the confiscation of the device used in the offence, deletion of the offending content, and barred the defendant from using any information network for three months. The judgment became final after no appeal was filed within the legally prescribed period.

Following the final conviction, the claimant filed a civil lawsuit seeking Dh1 million in compensation for material and moral damages, along with 9 per cent legal interest from the date of claim until full settlement.

The claimant argued that the offensive messages damaged his professional reputation, caused psychological distress, and resulted in financial losses, including the alleged cancellation of his employment contract and loss of income. He also claimed expenses related to pursuing the criminal proceedings.

However, the court noted that the document submitted regarding cancellation of the claimant’s work permit was dated April 2024 — predating the incident in question. The claimant also failed to submit sufficient proof of lost earnings or confirmed legal expenses directly linked to the defendant’s actions.

In its reasoning, the court cited provisions of the civil transactions law, affirming that “any harm caused to another obliges the perpetrator to compensate the damage,” including moral harm such as injury to reputation, dignity and social standing.

The court further referred to the binding authority of final criminal judgments in civil proceedings, stating that once a criminal court conclusively establishes fault and attribution, the civil court may not revisit those findings.

While the court found that the defendant’s actions constituted unlawful fault resulting in moral damage — including harm to reputation and emotional distress — it determined that the evidence did not support the full extent of the material losses claimed.

Accordingly, the court awarded Dh20,000 in compensation for both material and moral damages.

The court further ordered the defendant to pay legal interest at the rate of 5 per cent annually calculated from the date the judgment becomes final until full payment, in line with established judicial principles of the Dubai Court of Cassation. The defendant was further ordered to bear court costs and Dh300 in legal fees.