Twitter subverts Trafigura gagging order

 

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By Barry Collins

Posted on 13 Oct 2009 at 15:53

Twitter has effectively toppled a court injunction that prevented newspapers from reporting the activities of oil company, Trafigura.

The Guardian ran a front page story this morning, reporting how it had been banned from reporting the contents of a Parliamentary question relating to alleged toxic dumping by Trafigura.

The newspaper claimed that the gagging order, secured by the company's solictors Carter Ruck, called into question the principle of free speech that was established under the 1688 Bill of Rights.

It appears the Twitter crowd agreed, with the micro-blogging service flooded with thousands of tweets linking the oil company to the gagging order. Trafigura swiftly became one of the leading trending topics on Twitter this morning, with prominent Twitter celebrity Stephen Fry among those who were openly defying the ban. At around 11am this morning he tweeted: "Public disgust at this barbaric assault on free speech is being collected under the hashtag #trafigura."

Trafigura will deny it had anything to do with Twitter, but we know don't we? We know! - Stephen Fry

Shortly after, the comedian and writer posted the following: "It's great that Trafigura and Carter-Ruck (the notorious law firm behind the gagging order) are trending. #trafigura".

Several bloggers had also openly linked Trafigura to the reporting ban.

Around midday, Trafigura and its solicitors apparently decided that the game was up, and decided to withdraw its objection to the Parliamentary question being reported.

That prompted a celebratory tweet from Fry, who proclaimed: "Can it be true? Carter-Ruck caves in! Hurrah! Trafigura will deny it had anything to do with Twitter, but we know don't we? We know! Yay!!!"

Trafigura and its solicitors will doubtless reflect that the entire episode has spectacularly backfired. Until this morning, few people will even have heard of the oil company. Now it's one of the biggest talking points of the day.