Abuse cast when people gather information (10)

I believe the answer is:

aspersions

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'abuse cast when people gather information' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this definition defines the answer.

'when people gather information' is the wordplay.
'when' becomes 'as' (eg 'when I walked' means 'as I walked').
'people' becomes 'persons' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'gather' indicates putting letters inside.
'information' becomes 'i' (common abbreviation for information).
'persons' going around 'i' is 'persions'.
'as'+'persions'='ASPERSIONS'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for aspersions that I've seen before include "slanderous accusations" , "Slanders" , "derogatory remarks" .)

I've seen this clue in The Irish Times.

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