Malaysian to pay $31,000 over Facebook defamation

The high court in the northern state of Penang said Leong Yook Kong defamed the centre, where his son had studied, through three posts on the social networking site last year, Leong's lawyer K. Paramanathan said.

Leong, a 64-year-old retiree, posted the comments implying the centre was guilty of fraud and corrupt practices after his son failed an examination for a diploma in vehicle maintenance and repair. Leong now has to pay a total of 100,000 ringgit in damages and costs, Paramanathan said. He is also not allowed to publish further defamatory statements.

Paramanathan said it was his first Facebook defamation case but he could not say whether other such suits had succeeded in Malaysian courts. Malaysians are avid users of social networks and micro-blogging sites. Earlier this year, a Malaysian social activist agreed to post an apology to a company on Twitter 100 times after it threatened legal action over his allegations it had badly treated a pregnant friend of his who worked for it.

Source: AFP