eBay has reached a settlement with a pair of journalists who sued the company after its employees subjected them to a campaign of cyberstalking and harassment. This case may have fallen off your radar, so let’s recap the whole horrifying saga. Massachusetts-based David and Ida Steiner run a newsletter and website called EcommerceBytes. In 2019, articles about eBay written by Mrs. Steiner apparently drew the ire of then-CEO Devin Wenig. According to evidence from prosecutors, Wenig told his communications chief to “take her down,” which he continues to assert referred to a common PR takedown, while the comms exec told eBay’s former security team lead to do “whatever it takes” to silence her.
Security employees of the shopping company then engaged in a campaign of harassment and cyberstalking aimed at silencing the pair. eBay workers threatened both of the Steiners online and with material sent to their home. The threats included live cockroaches, a bloody pig mask, a funeral wreath and a book on surviving the loss of a spouse. Seven eBay security employees were charged and pled guilty in a case brought in 2020, but the executives who allegedly instigated the campaign against the couple did not face punishment at that time.
Today’s settlement will see the Steiners receive compensation of $46.15 million from eBay, $2 million from Wenig, $500,000 from former eBay executive Wendy Jones and $50,000 from former eBay executive Steve Wymer. In addition, eBay will commit $6 million in charitable contributions to various nonprofit organizations and Wenig will give $1 million in Ina Steiner’s name to a charity that supports First Amendment rights.
“This case was always about more than obtaining financial recovery,” said Christopher Murphy of Scalli Murphy Law, which represented the Steiners.” From the beginning, our clients wanted to uncover the truth, protect journalists and publishers, hold those responsible accountable, deter future corporate misconduct, and help ensure others would never have to endure what they experienced.”
“As we have long stated, what the Steiners were subjected to by former eBay employees in 2019 was wrong, reprehensible and should never have happened,” eBay said in its statement today. “The 2019 conduct is not representative of eBay’s culture or thousands of employees around the world today. Since these events occurred, new leaders have joined the company and eBay has strengthened its policies, procedures, controls and training consistent with the company’s ongoing commitment to uphold high standards of conduct and ethics.”
In a statement provided to Engadget, Wenig said:
No one should ever have been subjected to what the Steiners endured in 2019, and I’m saddened by it, especially because it occurred during my time as CEO of eBay. The harassment was deliberately done in secret and without my knowledge, as established by an independent law firm review, a federal probe, and the sworn testimony of the security employee convicted as the ‘ringleader.’ This behavior is antithetical to everything I stand for and believe in.
The Steiners’ right to publish content was always protected by the First Amendment, and protection of the press and the right to free speech are causes I have long supported and defended. I’m pleased that a meaningful portion of my settlement will go directly to a non-profit committed to protecting freedom of the press.
Update, July 28, 7:25PM ET: This article was edited after publish to include comment from former eBay CEO Devin Wenig.
