The Abu Dhabi Family, Civil and Administrative Court ordered a young man to pay AED 20,000 in compensation to an influencer after he filmed her and posted the video on TikTok and Snapchat without her consent, violating her privacy and damaging her reputation.

The court rejected the influencer’s claim for AED 450,000 in compensation for material and moral damages due to insufficient evidence of financial loss, awarding compensation only for moral harm.

According to case details, the influencer filed a lawsuit against the young man seeking AED 450,000 for material, moral, psychological, social and family harm, as well as lost income.

She also requested annual legal interest of five per cent on the awarded amount from the date the judgment became final until full payment. She further sought to have the defendant pay court fees, case expenses and legal fees, and requested immediate enforcement of the ruling without the need to provide security.

The lawsuit was filed after the young man recorded a video of the influencer and posted it on his TikTok and Snapchat accounts without her consent. According to the claimant, the video was accompanied by comments that damaged her reputation and social standing.

The influencer claimed the incident negatively affected her family life, advertising work and earnings.

To support her claim, she cited a final criminal court ruling that found the young man guilty and ordered him to pay a fine of AED 50,000, while also confiscating his mobile phone.

She also submitted court judgments, images from videos related to the case and social media comments about her. The defendant denied the claim in a written submission and requested that the case be referred.

Explaining its decision, the court said that under the Criminal Procedure Law, a civil court hearing related matters is bound by the judgment issued in the criminal case.

The court said the evidence confirmed the young man’s conviction for filming the claimant and publishing the video without her consent. The act and the defendant’s responsibility for it had therefore been conclusively established by the final criminal judgment and were binding on the civil court.

However, the court rejected the claim for financial compensation, explaining that the claimant had failed to provide sufficient evidence of financial losses resulting from the filming and publication of the video.

The court said she had not proved the amount of income lost, any specific earning opportunity she had been denied, or a decline in invitations to participate in activities and the resulting effect on her professional work.

The court also said that expenses incurred in pursuing the case were governed by the rules relating to court costs.

Addressing the claim for moral damages, the court explained that such harm includes damage to a person’s dignity, honour and reputation, as well as emotional and psychological suffering.

The court found that filming the claimant and publishing the video without her consent, while enabling it to be shared further, had violated her privacy, damaged her reputation and caused her embarrassment and psychological distress. It concluded that compensation for these harms was justified.

The court ultimately ordered the young man to pay the influencer AED 20,000 in compensation for moral damages. The defendant was also ordered to pay court fees and case expenses in proportion to the amount awarded.