Ebay Has to Pay $55.7 Million in Settlement for Its Unhinged Harassment Campaign
eBay has agreed to a $55.7 million settlement to resolve a civil lawsuit regarding a malicious harassment campaign against the founders of EcommerceBytes. The settlement includes significant payouts to the victims and requires the company to publicly condemn the actions of the former employees involved.
Why it matters
This case serves as a high-profile example of corporate accountability and the legal consequences of executive-led misconduct against journalists.
A civil litigation case against eBay, filed by the founders of a Massachusetts-based news site that covers ecommerce, has just been settled. The gist of it: The company and former execs have to own up to—and pay up for—perhaps the most disturbing harassment campaign ever led by a giant tech company against its critics.
Back in 2020, six former eBay employees and one contractor were charged with participating in a horrifying campaign—featuring doxing, threats, and deliveries of live pests—against David and Ina Steiner, the husband-and-wife founders of the Massachusetts-based news site EcommerceBytes. The Steiners wrote about eBay regularly, often not in a flattering light. In 2021, the couple filed a civil suit; EBay later agreed to pay a $3 million criminal penalty to the US Attorney’s Office in the District of Massachusetts.
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