Amber Heard faced 'organised campaign of targeted harassment' during defamation trial against Johnny Depp: report
During her defamation trial against ex-husband Johnny Depp, there was an organised campaign of widespread targeted harassment against Amber Heard, which went in his favour, a new report suggests.
Johnny Depp and Amber Heard's high-profile defamation case received its judgement last month, mostly in favour of Johnny. Now a report suggests that the hate messages on social media against Amber during the trial were an ‘organised campaign of widespread targeted harassment’ against the actor, which may or may not have been planned by Johnny. Also read: Bar sells 'Johnny Depp shots' for male customers feeling 'unsafe or scared'
The court awarded $10.35 million in damages after a jury declared Amber Heard defamed him on all counts following a nearly seven-week trial in Virginia amid allegations of domestic violence and sexual assault. Amber was also awarded $2 million in her countersuit as jurors found that Johnny defamed her through his attorney.
While many believe that bots were used to run an online hate campaign against Amber, Bot Sentinel founder Christopher Bouzy said there could be an “organised campaign of widespread targeted harassment,” with actual people, not bots, behind the attacks.
He told CBS News, “It does not necessarily mean a bunch of folks in a small room, some place in St. Petersburg that are working together. It could just be a group of people who are against Amber Heard, and they decide on another platform — whether it’s Switch or Discord or whatever — ‘we’re going to attack, let’s coordinate together.'”
He also called it “one of the worst cases of cyberbullying and cyberstalking by a group of Twitter accounts that we’ve ever seen”. He added that Twitter didn't do enough to protect its users.
Post the judgement, Amber's sister Whitney Heard had written in an Instagram post for her, “I know what I saw and because the truth is forever on your side. I’m so sorry that it wasn’t reflected in the decision made by this jury, but I will never give up on you, and neither will anyone who stands with you.”
Recently, a Virginia judge rejected Amber's demand for a new trial over the mistaken identity of one of the jurors.
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