Influencer ordered to pay lawyer RM150k in defamation case

KUALA LUMPUR: A social media influencer was ordered to pay a senior lawyer RM150,000 in damages for defaming him in a video she produced and posted online.

According to Free Malaysia Today, Judge Yasmin Abdul Razak said Colin Andrew Pereira had proven that Ivor Lim had defamed him.

Lim was also issued an injunction restraining her from publishing the defamatory statement against Pereira and was ordered to pay him RM7,000 in costs.

It was reported that Pereira had sued Lim, who was then practising as a lawyer in Penang, for posting a video in which she claimed that "one of the reasons why the legal industry in Malaysia is so toxic is because of the senior lawyers."

In the video, she also said: "But this guy named Colin suddenly woke up and chose violence."

In his statement of claim filed on June 8, 2022, Pereira contended that the statements, when viewed as a whole, could be taken to mean that he had caused or contributed to the legal profession being toxic and that he used or supported the use of violence.

He also contended that Lim had allowed other comments to be posted, which Pereira claimed were defamatory to him.

Lim, meanwhile, relied on the defences of justification and qualified privilege. She asserted that the phrase "woke up and chose violence" was internet slang and not to be taken literally.

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