Twitter policy against defamation

Day 1 – A twitter handle named @sanden came out and personally attacked my name.

They made up the following tweet:

Tweet ID 1045547615318880257
@TudorFan2 @VarmaAnuj @TerryK59 @David_Bossie @DonaldJTrumpJr @realDonaldTrump Varma is that guy who completely botched up a major migration that cost a Fortune 500 company a huge sum. I heard all about you, I’m surprised they haven’t run you out of Austin yet. You have a terrible reputation as being a complete hack. And you even did your site on WordPress?

Day 2 – I open a support ticket with Twitter.

Their automated response

’We’re reviewing your report now. In the meantime, here are some actions you can take to make your Twitter experience safer….

Day 3 – Their official response

Hello,
Thank you for your recent report. We have reviewed your report carefully and found that there was no violation of the Twitter Rules against abusive behavior (https://twitter.com/rules).
There are a number of factors we take into consideration when deciding whether to take action on content:
Context matters

• Some Tweets may seem to be abusive when viewed in isolation, but may not be when viewed in the context of a larger conversation. While we accept reports of violations from anyone, sometimes we also need to hear directly from the target to ensure that we have proper context.
• The number of reports we receive does not impact our assessment of whether something violates the Twitter Rules.

We focus on behavior

• In order to ensure that people feel safe expressing diverse opinions and beliefs, we do not tolerate behavior that crosses the line into abuse, including behavior that harasses, intimidates, or uses fear to silence another user’s voice.
• Additionally, we enforce policies when someone reports behavior that is abusive and targets an entire protected group and/or individuals who may be members. This targeting can happen in multiple ways (e.g., mentioning someone, tagging someone in a photo, and more).

If, after you filed this original report, this person Tweeted additional content that you believe to be abusive, or if there’s additional context you think we need to know regarding this situation, please reply to this email and provide us with further details (including links to any additional Tweets).
In addition to Twitter’s efforts to enforce our Terms of Service, we also provide tools to assist users in controlling their Twitter experience:
https://help.twitter.com/safety-and-security/control-your-twitter-experience.
Thank you again for taking the time to submit your report to us. If you encounter additional content on Twitter that you believe to be abusive, please let us know by filing a new report.
Thanks,
Twitter

Day 4 – I open another ticket (since they closed the previous one) to get clarification

I just want to make sure I understand this right. Someone can reference my twitter handle and make up any allegations; (e.g. @xyz was convicted for the Enron scandal….) – and you would not consider that a violation of twitter rules? That’s what has happened in this tweet. I am not sure if she just mistook  identity or responded to a comment on her feed. Regardless, what are the rules for disallowing someone to simply reference someone in a derogatory and unfounded manner?

Day 5 – The same official response repeated all over again

Hello, Thank you for your recent report. We have reviewed your report carefully and found that there was no violation of the Twitter Rules against abusive behavior (https://twitter.com/rules).

Summary

I specifically tried to find out from Twitter whether it was okay to personally make up allegations against a twitter handle and post them in a tweet. They seemed to imply that there was absolutely nothing wrong with that…there was no ‘violation of Twitter rules against abusive behavior’.

So, in brief, you can make up any allegation you like about anyone – e.g. @xyz was part of the drug mafia arrested by the FBI… – and that would not violate twitter rules