eBay and its former executives will pay $56 million to settle a lawsuit alleging harassment of a couple of bloggers
eBay acknowledged that the actions taken by its former management against bloggers who criticized the company were unacceptable / Photo: Anton Gvozdikov / Shutterstock.com
Online retailer eBay and its former top executives have agreed to pay $55.7 million to settle a civil lawsuit alleging that they intimidated bloggers who criticized the company, according to the Financial Times. Under the terms of the agreement, the plaintiffs will receive $48.7 million in compensation, and the remainder will be donated to charitable organizations.
The plaintiffs—spouses Ina and David Steiner—claimed that in 2019 they were subjected to organized harassment for criticizing the retailer on their blog. The couple ran an online newsletter called Ecommercebytes, in which they critically covered eBay’s operations. In response, they claimed, company executives arranged for “intimidating” packages to be sent to their home address, including a box of live cockroaches, a mask shaped like a bloodied pig’s head, and a funeral wreath. In addition, the Steiners accused eBay’s management of launching an online campaign, including posting invitations on the internet for strangers to visit their home for sexual encounters.
According to the case file, in early 2019, then-eBay CEO Devin Wenig wrote to another top executive that it was time to “crush” Ina Steiner and “deal with her.” The company reported that all employees involved in the harassment of the Steiners were fired that same year.
![The day before, the head of GameStop revealed that he was selling junk on eBay to pay for [a deal] with eBay / Photo: Natee Meepian / Shutterstock](https://cdn.oninvest.com/uploads/r/3840x-/cropped-image-69fc79fb7b8b4.webp)
In 2020, federal prosecutors filed criminal charges against seven former eBay employees for cyberstalking. Subsequently, all of them were sentenced to prison terms ranging from one to five years. In 2023, eBay itself pleaded guilty to the criminal charges and paid a $3 million fine. The wife filed a separate civil lawsuit in 2021.
In a statement, eBay acknowledged that the incident “was wrong, reprehensible, and should never have happened,” and also noted the “unprofessional tone of the internal correspondence” exchanged by the managers involved, according to the FT. The company declined to comment further.
This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor
