The eBay cyberstalking settlement will cost the company and three former executives $55.7 million, resolving litigation brought by Massachusetts newsletter publishers David and Ina Steiner, according to The Verge, citing the settlement announcement and earlier CNBC reporting.
The Steiners run EcommerceBytes, a publication that covers online retail and eBay. Their 2021 lawsuit accused eBay and former executives, including former CEO Devin Wenig, of orchestrating a campaign in 2019 meant to scare them, threaten them and stop their eBay coverage, according to the complaint posted on CourtListener.
The case became infamous because the alleged retaliation looked less like a corporate legal strategy and more like a badly improvised crime subplot. The Steiners said they received a bloody pig mask, a funeral wreath, live insects and other disturbing deliveries at their home. The campaign also included online harassment from a fake Twitter account, according to prosecutors cited in a 2020 New York Times account by David Streitfeld.
What was the eBay cyberstalking settlement about?
The settlement resolves the Steiners’ civil claims over a harassment and stalking campaign connected to their newsletter’s coverage of eBay. The payment covers eBay and three former executives, according to The Verge and the settlement announcement from the Steiners’ law firm.
The lawsuit alleged that eBay and its executives tried to intimidate the couple into reducing or stopping their reporting about the company. That is the durable point here: the dispute was not about a product review or a customer-service spat, but about alleged corporate retaliation against independent publishers covering a major e-commerce platform.
According to the New York Times account, prosecutors said a fake Twitter account using the handle @Tui_Elei began sending Ina Steiner hostile messages in August 2019. After she did not respond, the offline harassment escalated. A package containing a bloody pig mask arrived at the Steiners’ home, followed by more messages from the account.
Other items sent to the couple included a book about surviving the death of a spouse, a funeral wreath, fly larvae, live spiders and cockroaches, according to the New York Times account cited by The Verge. Copies of an adult magazine were also sent to neighbors with David Steiner’s name attached, the report said.
Those details mattered in court because they showed the campaign was not limited to anonymous posts or angry emails. The alleged conduct moved from digital abuse to physical deliveries and reputational harassment aimed at the Steiners’ home and neighborhood.
The Verge reported that the $55.7 million agreement closes a long-running legal fight over the campaign. CNBC previously reported on the settlement. Ina Steiner also wrote about the resolution at EcommerceBytes, the publication she and David Steiner operate.
For eBay, the settlement puts a price on one of the strangest corporate misconduct cases to come out of the platform economy. For independent publishers, it is a reminder that covering powerful companies can carry risks that have nothing to do with traffic, subscriptions or search rankings.
This story draws on original reporting from Daring Fireball.
