Olivia Lopez Bennet Lopez, 45, better known as Ibu Olivia Lopez, filed the suit against Ganesan at the Shah Alam sessions court last March through Messrs Asheeq Ali & Co.

In her statement of claim, Lopez claimed that Ganesan posted a Facebook reel in August last year which contained defamatory remarks about her services.

She claimed the video directly referred to her as it featured her image alongside allegations that the service was fraudulent, unethical and profit-driven.

According to Lopez, the video was uploaded on Ganesan’s personal Facebook account and later reposted on the association’s official page, which has about 40,000 followers.

She claimed that the video on Ganesan’s personal account garnered 52 likes, 11 comments, and 25 shares, while the version on the association’s page recorded 8,300 views, 62 likes, three comments and eight shares.

Lopez, who has about 227,600 followers on TikTok under the handle “Jai Hanumat” (@ibuoliviealopez), contended that the statements portrayed her as dishonest and untrustworthy and were misleading to the public.

She added that she is a professional clinical hypnotherapist and claimed the allegations had severely damaged her reputation and business, resulting in the loss of clients and business partners, a decline in income, and exposure to online criticism and bullying.

As such, Lopez is seeking a public apology, removal of the video, general, aggravated and exemplary damages, legal costs and any other relief deemed appropriate by the court.

She also claimed that her solicitor had issued a notice of demand to Ganesan on Sept 17, but he allegedly stood by his statements and did not remove the video.

The court then fixed April 10 for case management before sessions court judge Zuhrina Nor via e-review.