eBay to Pay $55.7 Million in Settlement for Harassment Campaign Against Journalists
eBay has agreed to a $55.7 million civil settlement with David and Ina Steiner, founders of EcommerceBytes, who were targeted by a disturbing harassment campaign orchestrated by the company's former executives and employees in 2019.
eBay and several of its former executives have reached a final settlement in a civil lawsuit filed by David and Ina Steiner, the husband-and-wife founders of EcommerceBytes, a Massachusetts-based news site covering e-commerce. The Steiners had regularly written about eBay, often critically.
The harassment campaign unfolded over two months in the summer of 2019. It began with anonymous threatening Twitter direct messages and quickly escalated to deliveries at the Steiners' home, including a bloody pig mask, pornography, a package of fly larvae and live spiders, and live cockroaches. Other deliveries were death-themed, such as a book on grieving a spouse and a funeral wreath. Later, eBay employees engaged in physical surveillance, tailing the couple in a rented Dodge Caravan and posting Craigslist ads for swinger parties, threesomes, and sales, all listing the Steiners' address.
Under the settlement, the Steiners will receive more than $46.15 million from eBay, $2 million from former CEO Devin Wenig, $500,000 from former executive Wendy Jones, and $50,000 from former executive Steve Wymer. eBay will also donate $6 million to charity, and Wenig will contribute $1 million to a nonprofit protecting First Amendment rights. The company must issue a strong statement condemning the actions of the former employees involved.
The settlement contains no confidentiality provision, allowing the Steiners to speak freely about the case. Their attorney, Chris Murphy, said this was a non-negotiable condition: as journalists and victims, they wanted the public to understand what eBay did to them.
The Steiners noted that the civil suit gave them access to 68,000 documents they would not have seen during the federal investigation. Ina Steiner said they were often kept in the dark as victims.
Spokespersons for eBay apologized to the Steiners and condemned the employees who pleaded guilty to criminal charges. The company stressed that new leadership has transformed its culture and that the 2019 incidents are not representative of eBay today.
A key legal point involved punitive damages. In Massachusetts, such damages are typically not allowed in personal harassment cases. However, the Steiners' lawyers argued that because eBay is domiciled in California, where damages are permitted, they should apply. Murphy believes this sets a new precedent for out-of-state harassment campaigns.
