A UK City Council Orders Twitter To Hand Over Politician’s Accounts
South Tyneside Council in the UK has subpoenaed Twitter to hand over the two accounts, one public and one private, for fellow councillor Ahmed Khan. The council claims that Khan is the anonymous blogger known as Mr. Monkey who they claim has been making false accusations about the council.
Last night, the Chronicle revealed how South Tyneside Council launched a two-year legal battle attempting to unmask the person who runs the “Mr Monkey” blog.
The blog claims to “expose” what goes on behind the scenes at the authority, and has levelled many unfounded accusations at council leader Iain Malcolm and other councillors and council officers.
Now Coun Ahmed Khan, deputy leader of the Independent Alliance, is the subject of a subpoena which the council has issued to Twitter. The social network site must hand over all the personal details of his two accounts, his personal one and councillor account.
It means the plaintiffs will be able to access private messages sent to his accounts, which Coun Khan claims raises “serious privacy issues”.
There is no word yet if Twitter will comply but I think chances are they will comply.
