North-East council takes Twitter to court in US (From The Northern Echo)

North-East council takes Twitter to court in US

12:49pm Sunday 29th May 2011 in News

A COUNCIL today defended its legal fight to unmask a blogger amid reports Twitter has handed British users' details over to the local authority following a court order.

South Tyneside Council, which is based in South Shields, has been pursuing legal action against a blogger known as Mr Monkey, who has levelled a stream of criticisms and false allegations against councillors and council officers.

The council issued subpoenas in California to get Twitter to reveal details about a number of accounts as part of this libel investigation.

Today, the Sunday Telegraph said this demand has been successful - a move which some commentators believe could have wider consequences for celebrities wanting to track down Twitter users who have broken privacy injunctions.

But a spokesman for South Tyneside Council said he could not confirm that the US action had been successful.

He said: "This legal action was initiated by the council's previous chief executive and has continued with the full support of the council's current chief executive.

"The council has a duty of care to protect its employees and as this blog contains damaging claims about council officers, legal action is being taken to identify those responsible."