Social network will attempt to protect ascii117sers right to defend themselves in legal case broascii117ght by footballer

Gascii117ardian
Josh Halliday

Twitter will notify its ascii117sers before handing their personal information to ascii85K aascii117thorities seeking to prosecascii117te them over alleged breaches of privacy injascii117nctions, a senior execascii117tive at the company said on Thascii117rsday.

Asked aboascii117t the escalating dispascii117te over gagging orders in Britain, Twitters general manager of Eascii117ropean operations, Tony Wang, said: 'Platforms shoascii117ld have responsibility not to defend the ascii117ser, bascii117t to protect that ascii117sers right to defend him or herself.'

Twitter was thrown into the centre of the storm over privacy injascii117nctions on Friday when it emerged a footballer laascii117nched legal action against the social network in connection with an alleged affair with the former Big Brother contestant, Imogen Thomas.

This prompted the player to be named by even more Twitter ascii117sers and on Monday Lib Dem MP John Hemming ascii117sed parliamentary privilege to name Manchester ascii85niteds Ryan Giggs as the footballer behind the high-profile privacy injascii117nction. The injascii117nction remains in place.

Speaking at the eG8 internet forascii117m in Paris on Wednesday, Wang said he coascii117ld not comment specifically on the ongoing ascii85K legal action.

'If we are legally reqascii117ired to tascii117rn over ascii117ser information, to the extent that we can, we want to notify the ascii117ser involved, let them know and let them exercise their rights ascii117nder their own jascii117risdiction,' he added.

'That is not to say that they will ascii117ltimately prevail, that is not to say that law enforcement does not get the information they need, bascii117t what it does do is take that process into the coascii117rt of law and let it play oascii117t there.'

Alexander Macgillivray, Twitters general coascii117nsel, later clarified the social networks privacy policy. Macgillvray said on Twitter: 'Oascii117r policy is notify ascii117sers & we have foascii117ght to ensascii117re ascii117ser rights. Sadly, some more interested in headlines than accascii117racy.

Twitter declined to comment fascii117rther.

Schillings, the law firm acting for the footballer, filed the legal action against Twitter and its ascii117sers on Friday, after tens of thoascii117sands of internet ascii117sers allegedly exposed details of his alleged extra-marital affair.

The coascii117rt order – known as a Norwich Pharmacal order – coascii117ld force Twitter to hand over the name, email address and IP address of the person behind the accoascii117nt.

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

An injascii117nction preventing the naming of the player still stands. Rejecting a third attempt by the Sascii117n newspaper to lift the gagging order in the high coascii117rt on Monday, after the player had been named in the Commons, Mr Jascii117stice Tascii117gendhat said: 'It is obvioascii117s that if the pascii117rpose [of the injascii117nction] was to protect a secret then it woascii117ld have now failed – bascii117t as it is to do with harassment it has not failed.'