Twitter will notify its users before handing their personal information to UK authorities seeking to prosecute them over alleged breaches of privacy injunctions, a senior executive at the company said on Thursday.

Asked about the escalating dispute over gagging orders in Britain, Twitter's general manager of European operations, Tony Wang, said: "Platforms should have responsibility not to defend the user, but to protect that user's right to defend him or herself."

Twitter was thrown into the centre of the storm over privacy injunctions on Friday when it emerged a footballer launched legal action against the social network in connection with an alleged affair with the former Big Brother contestant, Imogen Thomas.

This prompted the player to be named by even more Twitter users and on Monday Lib Dem MP John Hemming used parliamentary privilege to name Manchester United's Ryan Giggs as the footballer behind the high-profile privacy injunction. The injunction remains in place.

Speaking at the eG8 internet forum in Paris on Wednesday, Wang said he could not comment specifically on the ongoing UK legal action.

"If we're legally required to turn over user information, to the extent that we can, we want to notify the user involved, let them know and let them exercise their rights under their own jurisdiction," he added.

"That's not to say that they will ultimately prevail, that's not to say that law enforcement doesn't get the information they need, but what it does do is take that process into the court of law and let it play out there."

Alexander Macgillivray, Twitter's general counsel, later clarified the social network's privacy policy. Macgillvray said on Twitter: "Our policy is notify users & we have fought to ensure user rights. Sadly, some more interested in headlines than accuracy.

Twitter declined to comment further.

Schillings, the law firm acting for the footballer, filed the legal action against Twitter and its users on Friday, after tens of thousands of internet users allegedly exposed details of his alleged extra-marital affair.

The court order – known as a Norwich Pharmacal order – could force Twitter to hand over the name, email address and IP address of the person behind the account.

Earlier this month, an unknown person or individuals published on a Twitter account the names of various people who had allegedly taken out gagging orders to conceal sexual indiscretions. The account rapidly attracted more than 100,000 followers.

An injunction preventing the naming of the player still stands. Rejecting a third attempt by the Sun newspaper to lift the gagging order in the high court on Monday, after the player had been named in the Commons, Mr Justice Tugendhat said: "It is obvious that if the purpose [of the injunction] was to protect a secret then it would have now failed – but as it is to do with harassment it has not failed."