A Malaysian man is forced to tweet an apology 100 times to escape paying a fine

A MALAYSIAN MAN accused of defaming a magazine has agreed to issue 100 apologetic tweets to avoid having to pay a fine.

The unusual case came to light after Fahmi Fadzil, who describes himself as a performer and writer, tweeted about an alleged incident of poor treatment of a friend by Female Magazine, where she worked.

He apologised for the tweet later that day, but Blue Inc. Media, the owner of the magazine, wasn't pleased and filed a defamation lawsuit against him. He would have faced a fine, the amount of which is not known, but instead a settlement was made that more appropriately fits the crime.

He was ordered to tweet the following message 100 times:

"I've DEFAMED Blu Inc Media & Female Magazine. My tweets on their HR Policies are untrue. I retract those words & hereby apologize."

At the time of writing he's up to 60 of his 100 Hail Marys, er, we mean tweets. To stop him from just spamming all 100 tweets in one go, it was stipulated that the tweets must be "spread equally over [three] days, beginning 9am [on 2 June]."

The case has actually led to him getting hundreds of additional followers, helping him easily pass the 5,000 mark. This might mean more people will bear withness to his 'shame', but Fadzil appears to be enjoying the attention, retweeting the media coverage.

Fadzil was not asked to delete the original offending tweet, which he posted on 25 January.

Fadzil refused to comment for fear of jeopardising the settlement. He directed us to his lawyer, who told us, "Fitting or not, the settlement was agreed upon by both parties. So we intend to see out the settlement in full. Also, it is not 'punishment', it is a settlement mutually agreed by both parties."

Some Twitter users coined the term 'tweepology' for the incident. We wonder how many more tweepologies will be given over the coming months and years, and if perhaps the controversial Twitter joke trial could have been resolved more amicably like this. µ