TWITTER HAS warned some of its users that the company may be compelled to release subscriber and registration information in relation to a case concerning a DCU student who was falsely accused of dodging a taxi fare in a video and comments posted on internet sites, including Twitter.

In an email to some of its users, the site said: “The updated legal process may require Twitter to produce records related to your account. Should Twitter be compelled to disclose information regarding your account, we will also provide a copy of those records to you upon your request.”

In recent court proceedings brought by the student, Mr Justice Michael Peart ordered that Twitter identify and release to the plaintiff the relevant user subscriber ID and registration details for the Twitter users. It was also ordered at the same proceedings that professional networking website LinkedIn identify and release a user’s subscriber ID and registration details.

In an earlier, separate case brought by the plaintiff against print media organisations, Mr Justice Peart said it was “a profound regret to me” that “this entirely innocent man found himself in a predicament where his good name had been sullied in the manner which it was”. He was subjected to the “most appalling stream of vile” abuse after an anonymous author on the internet had wrongly assumed he was the person who did not pay his taxi fare.

In the case involving Twitter, the plaintiff gave an undertaking that the information would be used solely for the purpose of seeking redress in respect of defamation.