One of the legal tests for defamation is that you have to prove that the allegation harmed your reputation.
So whether the rumour, while even false, is defamatory depends upon not just that it was false, but that it harmed someone's reputation.
Example: Rumour-- Puckluck2* slept with Hazel Mae. Here Puckluck2 is not defamed, but Hazel Mae is.
The More You Know (tm).
*Puckluck2 picked as a random example
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