Trans Mayoral Candidate to Sue Twitter Over Fake Account

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on August 25, 2009 - 9:52am.

Nampa, Idaho - A transgender mayoral candidate in the city of Nampa, Idaho has sued Twitter for defamation of character and violation of privacy, after a fake account on the microblogging service posted lewd messages about her, Advocate.com reported, citing local Fox affiliate KTRV-TV.

Melissa Sue Robinson plans to ask a court to compel Twitter to identify the fake account holder, so she can then sue the person.

The fake 'WomanwithaPenis' Twitter account reportedly sent lewd tweets to a Michigan reporter, and remained online a month after Robinson contacted Twitter and asked them to remove it.

"I e-mailed Twitter and called them and did the same thing with Google and asked them to remove it and that was month ago and they haven't removed it," Robinson told KTRV.

The offensive Twitter account was still available as of this morning, while @MelisRob is the candidate's authentic Twitter account.

Twitter recently announced that it would soon begin offering 'certified' accounts for celebrities, athletes, and other prone to attracting impostors.

http://www.fox12idaho.com/Global/story.asp?S=10975630&nav=menu439_6_6

http://twitter.com/WomanwithaPenis