Lagos court sanctions X, user N70m for defaming law graduate
Lagos High Court orders X (formerly Twitter) to disclose user identity and pay N70m for defaming a law graduate. Read about the landmark ruling. Read More: https://punchng.com/lagos-court-sanctions-x-user-n70m-for-defaming-law-graduate/
On June 5, 2026, the Lagos High Court in Ikorodu ordered social media platform X to reveal the identity of an anonymous user who defamed Nigerian law graduate Esther Agboola. Justice Adeniyi Pokanu ruled that the unauthorized manipulation and reposting of Agboola’s birthday post, which mocked her privacy, violated her right to privacy under Section 37 of the 1999 Constitution.
Agboola, known on X as @agirlnamed_esth, had shared a photo with the caption, “Chapter 25. Happy Birthday to me!” on January 9, 2026, to celebrate her 25th birthday. The anonymous X user had retrieved her post from January 2025, altered its timestamp, and falsely claimed it was published at a different time. The court awarded Agboola N20 million in general damages for mental anguish, emotional distress, harassment, reputational injury, and humiliation, and N50 million in conditional damages against X Corp if the company fails to disclose the identity of the account holder.
Written by urgent.news from Punch Nigeria's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
