A Twitter user has set up a new account claiming to expose a series of celebrities and high-profile public figures who have obtained injunctions to prevent reporting about their private lives.
The messages on the microblogging site, which can be read by anyone online, come after a council defended its legal fight to unmask a blogger amid reports Twitter has handed British users' details over to the local authority following a court order.
The latest attempt to get around gagging orders supposedly taken out against the media also follows a year-long review of the use of injunctions which exposed tensions between Parliament and the judiciary.
The list, made in 14 separate tweets overnight, contains links to documents, names and even some addresses of those who it claims have been granted injunctions.
It was published just hours after reports that South Tyneside Council's bid to get California-based Twitter to reveal details about a number of accounts as part of a libel investigation was successful.
The council, which is based in South Shields, has been pursuing legal action against a blogger known as Mr Monkey, who has levelled a stream of criticisms and false allegations against councillors and council officers.
The Sunday Telegraph said this demand has been granted - a move which some commentators believe could have wider consequences for celebrities wanting to track down Twitter users who have broken privacy injunctions.
A council spokesman said: "The council has a duty of care to protect its employees and as this blog contains damaging claims about council officers, legal action is being taken to identify those responsible."
Last week, the former head of the press watchdog insisted that the Human Rights Act must be amended urgently to end the "shambles" of judges gagging newspapers over the private lives of celebrities.
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In a letter to The Daily Telegraph, Lord Wakeham said the "intolerable" spate of privacy injunctions granted was an "inevitable" consequence of the legislation, which was passed by Labour in 1998. The peer called for a change to the law so that judges could only grant injunctions where issues "impact on public authorities and the state".
