Nollywood actress Adunni Ade has announced that she won a court case against Google over defamatory online publications that falsely linked her romantically with former Dino Melaye.
The actress shared the court judgment on her Instagram page with the caption: “Adunni Ade Vs Google. Not every war requires a response. Some require a courtroom. Unto the next.”
According to the judgment delivered by Justice I.O. Harrison of the Lagos High Court on July 9, 2025, the court awarded Adunni Ade N30 million in general damages and ordered Google to remove the defamatory publications from Google Search and YouTube.
The lawsuit, filed on July 11, 2024, initially sought N100 million in damages against both Google and Meta Platforms.
The case centered on two online articles titled: “How Dino Melaye used fake Patek Watch to woo and knack Actress Adunni Ade back, front and center” and “Actress Adunni Ade engages in heated exchange with famous Instagram blog after being listed among six celebrities to have dated Dino Melaye.”
Adunni Ade argued that the publications were false, misleading, and defamatory, stating that they violated her constitutional right to privacy under Section 37 of the constitution and caused her emotional and psychological distress.
She later discontinued the suit against Meta in April 2025, after the company filed a preliminary objection, leading the court to dismiss the case against it.
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However, the court ruled against Google, holding that the violation went beyond merely hosting the content, noting that the actress’s name and photograph were wrongfully associated with the defamatory stories.
In addition to awarding N30 million in damages, the court directed Google to immediately remove the publications and delete Adunni Ade’s name and photograph from the offending content across its platforms.
The court stated that once a fundamental right has been violated, no further proof of damage is required before awarding compensation.
The judgment comes just months after Adunni Ade secured another legal victory in which the Lagos High Court awarded her N20 million in damages over a separate invasion of her privacy involving a Nigerian news outlet and a writer who had linked her to a report about actresses allegedly involved with Dino Melaye.
