The Federal Court has ordered Twitter to release all information it has on the account known as “@PRGuy17” as part of the defamation lawsuit made by controversial right-wing persona Avi Yemeni.
Yemeni took legal action against the owner of the account and the platform itself in March, after the user began posting a number of tweets which he considered to be defamatory, then proceeded to block him.
Yemeni, who has made repeated attempts on identifying the individual behind the account, claimed that the user was not being held responsible for his comments, using the platform’s anonymity to mask themselves.
The order by consent was issued by Justice Debra Mortimer in Federal Court on Tuesday.
The account known as PRGuy has previously shown its support towards the state government of Victoria and prime minister Daniel Andrews himself, often posting pro-lockdown tweets and attempting to raise support towards the Labor party.
The account opened in March 2020, when the nation was still flung in the pandemic crisis, gaining in popularity and often creating a stir within the Aussie social media stratosphere with its strong political messaging. Right now, it sits at 81K followers, although the news of its legal spat with Yemeni has seen that number go up rapidly in the last few days.
Within the details that the order asks the company to reveal are the name and email of the account holder, alongside all IP addresses that may have been used to log in to it at the time of registration.
The company has agreed to provide the information regarding the individual, as they have previously stated that they would only release details on user’s accounts when they’re required to do so by law.
Yemeni is also attempting to raise funds for his upcoming legal battle through his website. However, a crowdfunding campaign asking to “buy a beer” for PRGuy has proven far more successful, as it has managed to raise the amount of $18,000 so far.
