I love Twitter. Let us just get that straight.
However, I’ve been amazed at all the electronic high-fiving and back-slapping that has been going on in the world of tweets regarding Trafigura.
I’ll admit that at first I thought the sheer mass of tweets on the topic forced Carter-Ruck to drop the injunction.
However, closer evaluation shows that it would have fallen anyway.
The ‘super injuction’ blocking reporting of the Minton Report only applied to the UK.
As soon as The Guardian – a media organisation followed online by people all over the world – had published the fact that they were being blocked from reporting it, its worldwide readers found the parliamentary question and published it online from overseas.
In the age of the internet, something as controversial as blocking the reporting of parliamentary activity was not going to stay secret for long, Twitter or no Twitter.
What Twitter can be congratulated on is bringing far more negative publicity to Trafigura than may have happened otherwise.
However, by asking Carter-Ruck to block something so inflammatory, Trafigura truly shot themselves in the foot.
