Lord Alan Sugar, entrepreneur and lead judge on BBC television show the Apprentice, was ordered to remove a Twitter update, after a judge said it could unfairly influence jurors in an MP’s expenses trial.
Sugar posted the message on the micro-blogging site on the second day of the trial of Lord Taylor in January. The tweet speculated on whether Taylor would escape charges because he was a member of the Conservative party.
“Lord Taylor, Tory peer, in court over alleged expenses fiddle,” wrote Sugar. “Wonder if he will get off as he is a Tory compared to Labour MP who was sent to jail.”
Although the incident occurred in January, legal restrictions prevented the media from reporting it at the time. These restrictions were lifted on Thursday following the conviction of ex-Conservative peer Lord Hanningfield – the last of the expenses trials.
A spokesman for Lord Sugar said that the tycoon had been away in America at the time, and was not familiar with the restrictions in the case. “As soon as he was, it was taken down,” he said.
The news comes amid ongoing debate about whether social networks should be subject to certain legal restrictions, after a Twitter user flouted privacy laws by tweeting a list of celebrities who took out super-injunctions. This was followed by thousands of Twitter users tweeting the name of married premiership footballer Ryan Giggs, after he was found to have taken out a super-injuntion.
The company announced yesterday that it would be prepared to hand over the details of users that broke the injuctions, if legally required to do so. “To the extent that we can, we want to notify the user involved, let them know and let them exercise their rights under their own jurisdiction,” said Twitter’s newly appointed general manager of European operations, Tony Wang.
Meanwhile, Facebook and Twitter have themselves been hit with an injunction order that prevents them publishing damaging information online. The injunction effectively bans the social networks from revealing the identity of a mother who is seeking to withdraw life support from her brain-damaged daughter.
In December 2010, the Lord Chief Justice has given journalists the green light to use Twitter during court proceedings, as long as their tweets do not interfere with the judicial process.
OpenAI reportedly begins early talks with California attorney general over complex transition from nonprofit to…
European Commission says it will review Apple's iPad compliance with DMA rules as it seeks…
James Dyson delivers most high-profile criticism so far of Labour's first Budget that raises £40bn…
Nvidia, Meta bring cases before US Supreme Court this month seeking tighter limits on investors'…
Nvidia to replace Intel this week on Dow Jones Industrial Average after years of turmoil…
Joby Aviation and Toyota Motor complete demonstration flight in Shizuoka as companies prepare to bring…