Is this the world's most expensive tweet? Comedian Alan Davies could pay high price of up to £200,000
A tweet by comedian Alan Davies could cost him as much £200,000 in damages - almost half the number of people to which he retweeted a false allegation linking Lord McAlpine to a child abuse scandal last year.
False allegation: A retweet from Alan Davies named Lord McAlpine
The 47-year-old wrote to the former Conservative party treasurer to apologise after he tweeted "Any clues as to who this Tory paedophile is...?" to over 400,000 followers and retweeted a reply which named Lord McAlpine.
The Mirror reported the damages could reach up to £200,000 and quoted Lord McAlpine's lawyer, Andrew Reid, saying discussions had taken place with the Jonathan Creek actor.
Any damages sought by Lord McAlpine after he was wrongly linked to a abuse at a Welsh care home will be donated to charity. Settlements have already agreed with the BBC for £185,000 after the broadcaster's Newsnight programme ran a story claiming a Conservative from the Thatcher era was involved in the scandal, leading to him being named online shortly after.
A settlement of £125,000 was agreed with ITV after a This Morning interview with prime minister David Cameron, during which presenter Philip Schofield waved a list with names of alleged paedophiles in front of the camera.
Lord McAlpine's lawyers later dropped proceedings against any Twitter users with less than 500 followers, but requested they make a voluntary £25 donation to BBC Children In Need.