High Court reporters
High Court proceedings between well-known UK-based Qatari businessman Wissam Al Mana and Facebook over the publication of “fake ads” using his name and image on the social media platform have been resolved.
Mr Al Mana, a UK-based Qatari national, had brought an action before the Irish Courts over adverts he said were “wrongly and maliciously” using his name and image which were published by persons unknown to him using the Facebook Ads tool.
The ads first appeared in 2019, but were later removed from the platform.
On Thursday, Mr Al Mana’s counsel, Paul O’Higgins SC, appearing with Anna Shanley Bl, said the parties had settled the action, but that the agreement had not yet “been committed to writing”.
In light of that, counsel asked that the matter be adjourned for a few weeks to allow for the implementation of the agreement.
Paul Gardiner SC, for Facebook, said his side was consenting to the matter being put back, adding that the settlement in relation to the full proceedings will be finalised.
No details of the settlement were given in open court.
A preliminary matter in the case, expected to last for three days, was listed for hearing before Mr Justice Mark Sanfey.
The judge agreed to put the matter back to a date in early December.
Al Mana Group
Mr Al Mana is the executive director of the Al Mana Group, which consists of over 50 companies involved in sectors including property, technology, media, entertainment, retail and the motor industry and employs over 3000 people.
He married pop star Janet Jackson, the sister of the late Michael Jackson, in 2012, but the pair separated in 2017.
In his action, the businessman claimed the adverts contained a fake news article, using sensational headings and featuring his name and image, which wrongly linked him to a cryptocurrency auto-trading program called Bitcoin trader, with which he has nothing to do.
While the ads were removed following complaints made on behalf of Mr Al Mana, he remained concerned about the publication of future fake ads containing his name and image.
Arising out of the advert’s publication, Mr Al Mana sought to sue both Facebook Ireland Ltd, which is now known as Meta, and the parties behind the adverts for defamation and malicious falsehood.
In a pretrial motion that was listed before the court on Thursday, Mr Al Mana’s lawyers had sought an order, known as a ‘Norwich Pharmacal’ order, from the court.
That order would require Facebook to disclose details that would allow them to identify the unknown persons that placed the ads so he could bring proceedings against them.
The information he sought included their names and addresses, emails and phone numbers, details concerning the advertiser’s IP addresses, payment methods and billing address, and their business names.
