eBay agrees to pay $56 million regarding its harassment campaign involving bloody pig masks.

      The most unsettling corporate harassment campaign in recent tech history comes with a cost. eBay and three of its former executives will pay close to $56 million to a couple they aimed to ruin for publishing a critical newsletter.

      David and Ina Steiner from Natick, Massachusetts, manage EcommerceBytes, a small newsletter focused on online selling. Their reporting angered eBay's senior executives in 2019, prompting the company to initiate a campaign to silence them. Six years later, following a criminal case, the civil lawsuit is finally resolved.

      What was sent to them

      The specifics still read like a work of fiction. eBay employees mailed live cockroaches and spiders to the Steiners’ residence, along with a funeral wreath, a bloodied pig mask, and a book about coping with the loss of a spouse. They also sent pornographic magazines in David’s name to a neighbor and threatened the couple online using fake accounts.

      The situation escalated into physical intimidation. Employees traveled from California to Massachusetts to monitor the couple and attempted to attach a GPS tracker to their vehicle. One unrealized plan involved sending a “Samoan gang” to their home. The catalyst was partly an article titled “eBay CEO Devin Wenig Earns 152 Times That of Employees.”

      The tone of the messages

      Court documents revealed how casually orders were given. Wenig, who was CEO at the time, texted that it was time to “take her down,” referring to Ina Steiner. Steve Wymer, the communications head, went even further, as reported by Ars Technica. “I want to see ashes,” he wrote. “As long as it takes. Whatever it takes.”

      Seven eBay employees and contractors pleaded guilty. The former security chief, James Baugh, received nearly five years in prison. In 2024, eBay paid a $3 million criminal fine. We reported on the original charges back in 2020. Wenig and Wymer were never prosecuted, and both deny being aware of the consequences of their orders.

      Why the monetary amount isn’t the main issue

      The significant figure consists of $46.15 million from eBay, $2 million from Wenig, $500,000 from former operations chief Wendy Jones, and $50,000 from Wymer, along with $6 million designated for charity and an additional $1 million from Wenig to a press-freedom organization in Ina Steiner’s name.

      For eBay, this is relatively minor. The company generates over $3 billion in revenue each quarter, making $46 million a negligible cost, similar to the amounts large corporations commonly pay to resolve issues discreetly. However, this situation will not fade away quietly. The Steiners declined to accept a confidentiality agreement. There is no NDA, the court file remains accessible, and eBay was compelled to publicly acknowledge the behavior as “wrong, reprehensible,” admitting to the “unprofessional tone” of its former executives.

      The true consequence

      What the couple ultimately gained was not just a monetary settlement, but the right to continue discussing their experiences. “This was not just an attack and harassment campaign against two individuals,” their lawyer Christopher Murphy stated. “It was also an assault on free speech and freedom of the press.”

      Ina Steiner conveyed the same sentiment to the Associated Press. She and her husband insisted the agreement be made public, expressing their desire for transparency as reporters, and in hopes that “this case will serve as a deterrent.” A company that sought to eliminate its critics is now held accountable for its actions, in a way that the public can access. As tech companies face juries on addiction and product design issues, this public accountability may hold more significance than the financial aspect.