eBay and three of its former executives have agreed to pay nearly $56 million to settle a lawsuit brought by journalists Ina and David Steiner over a bizarre cyberstalking and harassment campaign carried out against them in 2019. The campaign, run by former eBay employees, was intended to silence the couple's reporting on the company through their news website EcommerceBytes, and led to criminal convictions and prison sentences for several ex-staff involved. The settlement is notable both for its scale and because it forced eBay to issue a public statement condemning the conduct and acknowledging failings in its corporate culture at the time.

The harassment included deliveries of live cockroaches, a funeral wreath, a book about coping with spousal bereavement and a bloody pig mask to the Steiners' Massachusetts home, alongside abusive messages and a failed attempt to fit a GPS tracker to their car. eBay will pay $46.15 million directly to the Steiners, with former chief executive Devin Wenig contributing $2 million, former communications chief Steve Wymer $50,000, and former operations executive Wendy Jones $500,000; eBay will also donate $6 million to charity and Wenig a further $1 million to a free-speech charity in Ina Steiner's name. Seven former eBay employees and contractors pleaded guilty to criminal charges, with security executives James Baugh, David Harville, Philip Cooke and Stephanie Popp receiving prison terms of up to 57 months, while Wenig and Wymer, though not criminally charged, were accused in the civil suit of giving staff "carte blanche" to stop the Steiners' reporting "by whatever means necessary."