Micro-blogging site Twitter has said that it may have to pass users details to court if need be, but it will first notify users and give them time to defend themselves.
Twitter UK general manager Tony Wang said that the move is not meant to protect users, but to allow them to defend themselves.
"Platforms should have responsibility not to defend the user, but to protect that user’s right to defend him or herself," Wang said at the eG8 forum in Paris.
Wang said, "To the extent we can [hand over details], we give users notice of requests so they have opportunity to defend themselves."
Lawyers of Manchester United footballer Ryan Giggs are demanding Twitter to release details of users who named the Giggs on the site, breaching an injunction.
On 8 May, an unknown user had revealed that Giggs had an affair with former reality television star Imogen Thomas. Around 75,000 Twitter users and a Scottish newspaper also named Giggs in the affair, despite an injunction in which two judges had insisted that Giggs should remain anonymous.
Twitter is planning to open an office in London, UK.
