A fresh row over the use of social media broke out at Cornwall Council yesterday after councillors claimed they had been banned from "tweeting" from a meeting.

Members were formally allowed to post comments on Twitter during meetings after a review last year which also saw council meetings being broadcast over the internet.

It followed a rumpus over the so-called "Twitter gang" who posted a number of messages, ridiculing a fellow councillor for an alleged lack of technological know-how, suggesting one fellow councillor was asleep, and even containing detail alleged to be sexually suggestive. But the row was reignited during a meeting of the council's cabinet yesterday with members claiming that leader Alec Robertson had abruptly banned the practice.

It resulted in a flurry of disgruntled "tweets" from outside the meeting room, while Andrew Wallis, independent councillor Porthleven and Helston South, defied the "ban" and continued.

Several councillors said they were at the cabinet meeting as "observers", weren't actively part of the debate and had no right to vote.

In a later blog, Mr Wallis said: "I believe in one action, Cornwall Council, via its leader, has put the council's social media reputation back by a year. There are already concerns within the media and broadcasting world this new policy would not look out of place in North Korea."

Councillor Jeremy Rowe, leader of the Lib-Dem group, said Twitter was "now accepted as the norm" in councils, court rooms and Parliament.

He added: "It's difficult to understand the purpose of this beyond suffocating dissent and it's questionable whether he is actually entitled to do this."

The council moved quickly, insisting in a statement, and on Twitter, that it had "not banned the use of social media" from meetings.

Later, Coun Robertson said it had agreed a new broadcasting code "to protect the reputation of the council".

He added: "In this case it was brought to my attention that some members at the meeting were tweeting inappropriate comments.

"The code of conduct enables the chairman of a meeting to suspend the right to broadcast if they feel it necessary.

"Following this information, as chairman of the cabinet meeting I decided to exercise this right and instructed the members to stop tweeting."