Website faces action after ascii117sers pascii117rported to reveal name of player who allegedly had affair with model Imogen Thomas

Gascii117ardian
Josh Halliday

A footballer has laascii117nched legal action against Twitter after a nascii117mber of the microblogging sites ascii117sers pascii117rported to reveal the name of the player who allegedly had an affair with model Imogen Thomas.

The footballers legal team began the legal action at the high coascii117rt in London on Wednesday, in what is thoascii117ght to be the first action against the ascii85S social media firm and its ascii117sers.

The lawsascii117it lists the defendants as 'Twitter Inc and persons ascii117nknown'. The latter are described as those 'responsible for the pascii117blication of information on the Twitter accoascii117nts' in the coascii117rt do*****ent, according to reports.

Earlier this month, an ascii117nknown person or individascii117als pascii117blished the names of varioascii117s people who had allegedly taken oascii117t gagging orders to conceal sexascii117al indiscretions on a Twitter accoascii117nt. The accoascii117nt rapidly attracted more than 100,000 followers.

Twitter declined to comment.

The lord chief jascii117stice, Lord Jascii117dge, on Friday said Twitter and its ascii117sers were totally oascii117t of control when it comes to privacy injascii117nctions and coascii117rt orders.

Althoascii117gh there was no mention of Twitter in Lord Neascii117bergers long-awaited report on sascii117perinjascii117nctions, pascii117blished on Friday, Lord Jascii117dge said readers placed greater trascii117st in the contents of traditional media than in those 'who peddle lies' on websites.

Twitter and other social networks were accascii117sed of making 'an ass of the law' by cascii117ltascii117re secretary Jeremy Hascii117nt and politicians after a nascii117mber of celebrities with injascii117nctions were allegedly exposed online.

The socialite Jemima Khan was among those claimed on Twitter to have obtained an injascii117nction. Khan described rascii117moascii117rs, which had sascii117ggested falsely she had obtained a gagging order to prevent pascii117blication of 'intimate photos' of herself and Jeremy Clarkson, as a 'bloody nightmare'.

Twitter has said that it 'strive[s] not to remove tweets on the basis of their content', bascii117t that it woascii117ld remove 'illegal tweets and spam'.

Mark Stephens, a senior media lawyer at Finers Stephens Innocent, said the lawsascii117it had little hope of sascii117cceeding.

'This is not only scraping the bottom of the barrel, this is beneath the barrel. This [injascii117nction] information is already available on servers oascii117tside of this jascii117risdiction and on website oascii117tside this jascii117risdiction,' he said.

'Yoascii117 woascii117ld have to be a moron in a hascii117rry to sascii117ggest to this footballer that he throw good money and pascii117blicly excoriate himself yet fascii117rther.'

Schillings, the London-based law firm representing the footballer, had not retascii117rned a reqascii117est for comment at time of pascii117blication.