Journalist Nirosh Maithri has filed a lawsuit against Crescendo Transcription Pvt Ltd, seeking Rs. 100 million in damages for ‘reputational harm’ caused by a fact-checking report published by Factcrescendo – Sri Lanka.
The lawsuit stems from a Facebook post Maithri made on 8 February 2025 regarding a post that had appeared on President Anura Kumara Dissanayake’s official Tamil media Facebook account before being deleted. Following this, Factcrescendo – Sri Lanka published an article claiming that edited screenshots of the President’s social media posts were circulating online. The article stated that such images had been manipulated using software like Photoshop and were not authentic.
The fact-checking organization also attached a screenshot of Maithri’s Facebook post, implying that he had deliberately altered the original content. Additionally, Factcrescendo – Sri Lanka labeled his post as false without independently verifying its authenticity.
Maithri, through his legal representatives, argues that this misrepresentation has caused significant personal and professional damage, prompting his legal action against the organization.
