‘A horrible nightmare’: the shocking story of the eBay harassment scandal
A new documentary, Whatever It Takes, details the harrowing harassment campaign waged against journalists Ina and David Steiner, who ran the e-commerce news site EcommerceBytes. The couple's reporting on eBay had made them targets of a stalking operation orchestrated by former employees of the company, illustrating the real-world dangers journalists can face for critical coverage of powerful corporations. The case only recently reached a resolution, with eBay agreeing to pay the Steiners a substantial settlement after years of legal proceedings.
In 2019, the Steiners' Massachusetts home became the focus of a bizarre and frightening campaign involving deliveries of live spiders, a bloody pig mask, and a book about surviving a spouse's death, as well as pornographic magazines sent to neighbours and their address listed online for swingers' parties. Unaware who was responsible, the couple lived in fear, rigging makeshift alarms and sleeping in separate beds for safety, while local police struggled to identify a culprit. Last month, following six years of criminal and civil proceedings, the Steiners secured a $55.7m settlement from eBay over its former executives' role in the intimidation campaign.
- Documentary reveals eBay ex-staff orchestrated harassment of journalist couple
- Steiners faced stalking, threats and disturbing deliveries at home in 2019
- Couple won $55.7m settlement from eBay after six-year legal battle
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Ina and David Steiner ran EcommerceBytes, a small news website that covered the online marketplace industry, including eBay, one of the world's biggest e-commerce companies. Their reporting on eBay drew the attention of company staff, and in 2019 the couple became the target of a sustained and disturbing harassment campaign at their Massachusetts home, without knowing at first who was behind it or why.
It later emerged that the campaign had been organised by former eBay employees, some of them senior figures at the company, who allegedly sought to intimidate the Steiners over their coverage. The affair led to criminal prosecutions of several ex-employees and years of civil litigation against eBay itself, and has become a widely cited example of the risks journalists can face when reporting critically on powerful companies.
A documentary called Whatever It Takes now revisits the case in detail, drawing renewed attention to it after the Steiners reached a financial settlement with eBay following years of legal proceedings.
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