Twitter claims new scalp as Trafigura backs down
Stephen Fry and friends helped to destroy the injunction against the Guardian
The power of Twitter struck again today, as oil trader Trafigura dropped its injunction against the Guardian. With the help of the London legal firm Carter-Ruck, the company had successfully applied yesterday to the High Court for the gagging order which prevented the newspaper reporting Labour MP Paul Farrelly's written question to justice secretary Jack Straw (see above) concerning the company and its connections with the alleged dumping of toxic waste in Cote d'Ivoire.
After the Guardian posted an item online at 8.30pm yesterday, explaining that it was the subject of a ban – a ban which appeared to run roughshod over age-old rights to report parliamentary proceedings - users of Twitter started to make a mockery of the injunction in a way that the traditional media have always been unable to.
First links were posted to blogs which revealed the question that Farrelly was due to ask (helpfully still posted on the UK Parliament website) and the background to the story. A few brave bloggers, including Guido Fawkes, simply trashed the injunction. Then this morning, in moves reminiscent of the #welovetheNHS campaign, Twitterers started to send emails with Trafigura's name, that of the newspaper and Carter-Ruck, with a 'hashtag' to ensure that the words shot up the trending topics bar at the side of everyone's Twitter page. A protest was even planned online to take place outside Carter-Ruck's London offices. Then celebrity users of the site such as Stephen Fry weighed in.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Fry tweeted: "Outrageous gagging order. http://tr.im/BCA2 It's in reference to the Trafigura oil dumping scandal. http://tr.im/BCAm Grotesque and squalid", making himself a potentially high-profile target of any future legal action. Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger kept his followers updated on the moves to overturn the ban, while campaigners began to dig up and post links to all sorts of articles that the oil firm would surely have rather remained hidden.
There was a brief panic during the morning when it appeared that the company's name had disappeared from the topics list, with dark mutterings about the service having been got at by Carter-Ruck, but the flood of posts continued. Then at 12.45pm David Leigh, the Guardian's investigations editor, posted: "It appears that carter-ruck have suddenly decided to abandon the fight. no court after all". The Guardian, along with other newspapers, had been due to go court at 2pm to challenge the ban, but were now free to report Farrelly's question.
"Can it be true?" wrote Fry on hearing the news. "Carter-Ruck caves in! Hurrah! Trafigura will deny it had anything to do with Twitter, but we know don't we? We know! Yay!!!" Rusbridger echoed this sentiment, thanking Twitterers thus: "Thanks to Twitter/all tweeters for fantastic support over past 16 hours! Great victory for free speech."
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Today's political cartoons - April 21, 2024
Cartoons Sunday's cartoons - devilish decrees, biblical blunders, and more
By The Week US Published
-
5 carefully selected cartoons about the Trump-Daniels jury selection process
Cartoons Artists take on a stress-free life, rare peers, and more
By The Week US Published
-
Loire Valley Lodges review: sleep, feast and revive in treetop luxury
The Week Recommends Forest hideaway offers chance to relax and reset in Michelin key-winning comfort
By Julia O'Driscoll, The Week UK Published
-
Will Aukus pact survive a second Trump presidency?
Today's Big Question US, UK and Australia seek to expand 'game-changer' defence partnership ahead of Republican's possible return to White House
By Sorcha Bradley, The Week UK Published
-
It's the economy, Sunak: has 'Rishession' halted Tory fightback?
Today's Big Question PM's pledge to deliver economic growth is 'in tatters' as stagnation and falling living standards threaten Tory election wipeout
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
Why your local council may be going bust
The Explainer Across England, local councils are suffering from grave financial problems
By The Week UK Published
-
Rishi Sunak and the right-wing press: heading for divorce?
Talking Point The Telegraph launches 'assault' on PM just as many Tory MPs are contemplating losing their seats
By Keumars Afifi-Sabet, The Week UK Published
-
How would a second Trump presidency affect Britain?
Today's Big Question Re-election of Republican frontrunner could threaten UK security, warns former head of secret service
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
'Rwanda plan is less a deterrent and more a bluff'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By The Week UK Published
-
How the biggest election year in history might play out
The Explainer Votes in world's biggest democracies, as well as its most 'despotic' and 'stressed' countries, face threats of violence and suppression
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
'The decline of Twitter, and the race to replace it, is in a sense a sideshow'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By Harold Maass, The Week US Published