The Guardian reports that a British footballer last week launched legal action against Twitter after some of the social networking site's users named the player as allegedly having had an affair with model Imogen Thomas.

The action was commenced at the High Court in London on Wednesday (18 May) and it is thought to be the first-ever legal action launched against the US social media company and its users.

Defendants to the lawsuit are named as "Twitter Inc and persons unknown", with the latter described as being "responsible for the publication of information on the Twitter accounts".

Earlier this month, an unknown person or group of people published the names of those who had allegedly taken out gagging orders in an attempt to conceal sexual indiscretions on a Twitter account.

The account quickly attracted more than 100,000 followers.

The High Court's Lord Judge said on Friday that Twitter and its users were completely out of control in relation to privacy injunctions and court orders.

He also said that readers still place greater trust in traditional media than in those "who peddle lies" on websites.

Mark Stephens, a senior media lawyer at UK firm Finers Stephens Innocent and a key member of Julian Assange's legal team, said it is unlikely the lawsuit will be successful.

"This is not only scraping the bottom of the barrel, this is beneath the barrel. This information is already available on servers outside of this jurisdiction and on website outside this jurisdiction," he said.

"You would have to be a moron in a hurry to suggest to this footballer that he throw good money and publicly excoriate himself yet further."

Over the weekend Scotland's Sunday Herald ran a photograph of the footballer with his eyes blocked out, making his identity easy to pick.

The Sunday Herald defended its decision to publish as on the grounds that "we don't publish in England and we are not covered by the superinjunction".