Adunni Ade, the Nollywood actress, says she won a lawsuit against Google over defamatory articles that falsely linked her romantically to Dino Melaye, former Kogi senator.
The film star announced the victory via Instagram, sharing
the court judgment document and writing: “Adunni Ade Vs Google. Not every
battle needs a response. Some need a courtroom. Unto the next”.
The document showed that the judgment, delivered on July 9,
2025, by I.O. Harrison of the Lagos high court awarded the actress N30 million
in general damages, alongside an order compelling Google to delete the
publications from both Google.com and YouTube.
Ade filed the lawsuit against Google and Meta on July 11, 2024, seeking N100 million in general damages.
The case centered on two specific articles that continued to
appear on Google’s platforms: “How Dino Melaye used fake Patek Watch to woo and
knack Actress Adunni Ade back, front and center” and “Actress Adunni Ade
involves in heated exchange with famous Instagram blog after being listed among
six celebrities to have dated Dino Melaye”.
The actress argued that the publications were “unfair, false
and inaccurate,” violated section 37 of the Nigerian constitution guaranteeing
private and family life, and caused her “emotional and psychological distress”.
In April 2025, Ade discontinued proceedings against Meta
after the company filed a preliminary objection. The court subsequently struck
Meta out of the case.
However, the court held firmly against Google, ruling that
the core violation was not merely the publication but the false association of
Ade’s name and photograph with an embarrassing narrative.
The court ordered Google to delete or expunge Ade’s name and
picture from both articles and remove the publications from all their platforms
immediately, in addition to the N30 million damages award.
“It is trite that damages, when violation of fundamental
right is established, needs no further proof. The Court will thus award the
Applicant the sum of N30, 000, 000. 00 (Thirty Milion Naira) as general
damages,” it added.
The development comes a few months after she celebrated a
legal victory in which the Lagos high court awarded her N20 million in damages
for a breach of her privacy.
Ade sued a Nigerian news platform and its reporter over an
article published on January 18, 2023.
The article had linked her to a story about “six popular Nigerian actresses who have been accused of dating” politician Melaye.
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