A coal activist who was subject to false claims by Adani on their Facebook page has been awarded $2000 in damages and a public apology.
Scott Daines from the group Frontline Action on Coal was falsely alleged to have thrown rocks at Adani workers’ cars and kicked car doors during a protest in October 2020.
Adani, now known as Bravus Resources, posted the allegations to their 37,000 Facebook followers on October 8.
Mr Daines issued a formal concern of defamation notice to Adani after they made the accusations.
The defamatory social media post was retracted, but not without more controversy.
The company initially posted its apology on an Adani Australia page with a mere 50 followers – instead of the rebranded Bravus Resources page where the original claims were posted.
They tried to argue that the apology needed to be made by Adani rather than Bravus, even though they’re the same company.
Bravus later published an apology on their Facebook page.
“We published a post about Scott Daines which contained allegations that he had damaged Adani property. These allegations were incorrect, and the post has been removed from this page,” the company wrote.
“Adani Australia apologises to Mr Daines for any hurt or distress this post may have caused.”
Mr Daines is continuing to pursue the company for further damages for the delay and the alleged manipulation of the public apology.
In a letter to their lawyers on January 29, he has accused them of being ‘devious and untruthful…demonstrating the lowest standards of corporate behaviour’ and being ‘motivated by malice’.