Trafigura investigation : Twitter, Social Media, Trumps the Establishment

Twitter attack, social media pushes truth to power...Trafigura trend makes mockery of UK political systyem, brings unwanted attention to oil company, Trafigura...

Social Media/People Power: 1 The Establishment: 0

Users across the world found the word Trafigura to be the biggest trending topic on Twitter today. For those not in the know, Trafigura is on of the largest oil trading companies in the world. A UK government and or legal firm supression order prevented the word, Trafigura, or any negative stories about the company, being reported anywhere in the countries news media.

Yet people power has spoken. Now millions know about a shocking allegation, that Tragigura executives did not want anyone to know, or otherwise would have known, thanks to people power and a little help from micro-blogging platform Twitter.

The hashtag #trafigura was burning away with dozens of individual tweets per minute talking about the oil trading company after news sites, the Guardian and BBC reported on a UK supression order involving an unnamed company (turns out it was Trafigura) being talked about in a so called democratic parliament, by unnamed British Members of Parliament, for an unknown controversial reason.

Background: Apparently Trafigura, a Duth registerd oil company announded in September that it would pay out a multi-million dollar settlement, without admitting liablity, over allegations the company dumbed massinve amounts of toxic waste off the Ivory Coast in Africa back in 2006.

Coutnless thousnads of people in the Ivory Coast town of Abidjan and surroundeing areas say they were badly affected by the waste and a subsiquent Trafigura investigation found at least 15 people had died due to the toxic waste dumping off the poor African nations.

Today, The Guardian journalist David Leigh reported this:

"Today's published Commons order papers contain a question to be answered by a minister later this week. The Guardian is prevented from identifying the MP who has asked the question, what the question is, which minister might answer it, or where the question is to be found.

The Guardian is also forbidden from telling its readers why the paper is prevented – for the first time in memory – from reporting parliament. Legal obstacles, which cannot be identified, involve proceedings, which cannot be mentioned, on behalf of a client who must remain secret.

The only fact the Guardian can report is that the case involves the London solicitors Carter-Ruck, who specialise in suing the media for clients, who include individuals or global corporations."

But thanks to the instantaneous and free-wheeling nature of social networking, in particular Twitter, the gag order on UK media from reporting the alleged Trafigura Investiaton and toxic waste disaster appears to be an Epic Fail. Legal experts and PR in the worlds leading cities and the establishemnt in general have just been burnt by people power, and may it continue to happen time and time again into the future.

Update: Media now report the gag order on reporting Trafigura and MP Paul Farrelly being reported on lifted....

Likely thanks to people power, the Trafigura legal gag order has been lifted....A case study of real time REAL Democracy and feedom of the press, both new user generated media and traditional 5th estate media, in action thanks to Twitter and social networking.