Social media giant Twitter is dragging its heels over the removal of the name of a woman who accused Alex Salmond of sexual asault.
She was illegally outed on the online network but, despite repeated pleas for it to be removed, her case has been described as “closed”.
The company has told her she could submit a new case and, instead of just deleting the post, directed her to “self-help solutions”.
More than a week later it is still online – despite publication breaking the law.
A friend of the woman said: “When Police Scotland contact a social media platform to request them to remove an offending post because it breaks the law, it should take hours, not weeks, to be sorted.
“The fact that this has been compounded by Twitter closing the case before it has even been resolved shows they either don’t care or don’t take their role seriously.
“Twitter is jeopardising this woman’s safety and should act now.”
Salmond, first minister between 2007 and 2014, was acquitted of sexually assaulting nine women, including a charge of attempted rape, after a trial last year.
Publishing the names of the women is a crime after a court order was issued protecting their anonymity. Despite the order, a Twitter user blatantly ignored it by identifying one of the women and taunting her in other posts.
After the woman complained, Twitter told her the post was not a breach: “We’re writing to let you know that after reviewing the available information, we didn’t find a violation of our rules in the content you reported.”
Police said: “We confirm that we have received a complaint and it is currently being investigated.”
Twitter has repeatedly declined requests for a comment.
