Out-Law News 2 min. read

Attorney General threatens legal action against Twitter users


Twitter users could be charged with contempt of court if they use the site to publish details banned from being revealed by an injunction, the Attorney General has said according to media reports.

Dominic Grieve, the Attorney General whose office has the power to bring contempt of court proceedings, said that he would take action if users flouted court banning orders, according to the Daily Telegraph.

"I will take action if I think that my intervention is necessary in the public interest, to maintain the rule of law, proportionate and will achieve an end of upholding the rule of law," Grieve told BBC Radio 4's Law in Action programme, according to the Telegraph report.

"It is not something, however, I particularly want to do," Grieve told the programme, according to the paper.

Grieve said it was normally up to individuals who had won injunctions to ask for enforcement action, according to the Telegraph report.

Grieve recently warned users of modern technology about breaking court injunctions when he spoke at the House of Commons.

"Courts have power to punish those who breach injunctions, and those who decide flagrantly to do so should bear that in mind when they embark on such a course," Grieve told Parliament.

"Those who take an idea that modern methods of communication mean that they can act with impunity may well find themselves in for a rude shock," Grieve said.

Recently anonymous Twitter users posted the name of a footballer who holds an injunction banning the publication of his name in association with an alleged affair.

The footballer has asked the courts to force the micro-blogging site to release the details of those who broke the court order.

Thousands of Twitter users have since named the footballer, and other celebrities who it is claimed hold gagging orders, on the site.

Last month John Hemming MP used Parliamentary privilege to name Ryan Giggs as the footballer who holds a court order banning his name from being revealed in connection to allegations of an affair.

Hemming had argued that it was not possible to prosecute 75,000 Twitter users who used the site to name Giggs.

Media reports last week suggested that a UK council had obtained Twitter account details from the company.

Twitter handed over the personal data when the Superior Court of California ordered it to do so, the media had said.

Media law expert Kim Walker who works for Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind OUT-LAW.COM, recently told this site about the complicated process for obtaining Twitter account details within the UK.

"In the UK an individual would apply to court for a court order called a Norwich Pharmacal Order to require the release of the information. But because Twitter is based in the US a UK court would have no jurisdiction to enforce the order against Twitter," Walker said.

"The UK court would have to write to its US equivalent asking it to impose a request for information. It would then be up to that court whether to issue Twitter with an order to disclose the information," Walker said.

We are processing your request. \n Thank you for your patience. An error occurred. This could be due to inactivity on the page - please try again.