Critical bloggers tyrannized
Ebay fined millions
January 12, 2024, 4:45 a.m
If there is unpleasant reporting, companies usually call in their legal or PR department. At Ebay, on the other hand, employees preferred to initiate a very unsavory stalking campaign against two e-commerce bloggers. The company now has to pay millions for this.
Because Ebay employees bullied authors of an online newsletter, the online platform paid a fine of millions and was placed under supervision for three years. Seven former employees of the company had previously been convicted for their crimes in the stalking scandal. They had sent the two blog owners, a married couple, live cockroaches, a funeral wreath, and a pig mask smeared with fake blood. Among the articles sent anonymously was an advice book about dealing with the death of a partner.
As can be seen from procedural documents, the then eBay boss Devin Wenig was dissatisfied with reporting in the e-commerce newsletter in 2019 and suggested taking action against the publishers. Little was not prosecuted in the case. He denied knowing how far security officials had gone.
The public prosecutor in the US state of Massachusetts emphasized that the amount of three million dollars (2.73 million euros) was the highest penalty planned for companies. A former eBay security officer who was identified as the leader was sentenced to almost five years in prison in autumn 2022. The bloggers Ida and David Steiner from the small town of Natick in Massachusetts also sued eBay. The civil trial is scheduled to begin in March 2025.