US company
Critical bloggers tyrannized: Ebay pays million-dollar fine
Ebay employees tried to intimidate critical bloggers with cockroaches, a blood-smeared pig mask and a funeral wreath. Now the company has to pay a fine worth millions.
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. As procedural documents showed, then-Ebay boss Devin Wenig was dissatisfied with reporting in the newsletter in 2019 and suggested taking action against it. Wenig had not been prosecuted in the case and denied knowing how far security department employees had gone.
The bloggers Ida and David Steiner from the small town of Natick in Massachusetts also sued eBay. The trial is scheduled to begin in March 2025, they wrote on their website. A former eBay security officer who was identified as the leader was sentenced to almost five years in prison in autumn 2022.