New documentary examines eBay workers’ cyberstalking plot against journalists

Whatever It Takes: Inside the eBay Scandal puts a 2019 harassment campaign back in the spotlight, centering on Ina Steiner and David Steiner, the Massachusetts journalists behind EcommerceBytes. The film, which premiered at South by Southwest in March 2024 and runs about 93 minutes, tracks how criticism of a major tech platform escalated into a federal cyberstalking case that reached eBay’s boardroom and its security team.

The U.S. Department of Justice says the campaign unfolded over roughly three weeks, from Aug. 5 to Aug. 23, 2019, and involved then-Senior Director of Safety and Security Jim Baugh along with six other members of eBay’s security team. Prosecutors said the harassment included anonymous messages and disturbing deliveries to the Steiners’ home, among them a bloody pig mask and live insects. The targets were not anonymous internet commenters but a married couple in Massachusetts whose reporting on eBay had drawn the company’s anger.

The criminal case produced prison sentences in 2022 for James Baugh and David Harville, while multiple other former eBay employees pleaded guilty. In January 2024, eBay entered into a deferred prosecution agreement and agreed to pay a $3 million criminal penalty. In a Jan. 11, 2024 statement, the company said it took responsibility for the misconduct of former employees, a public acknowledgment that did not end the legal fallout.

The civil case has kept the scandal alive long after the federal plea deals. The Steiners filed suit in 2021, and by June 2026 the litigation had been reopened after settlement talks collapsed. Former executives Devin Wenig, Steve Wymer and Wendy Jones remain named in the lawsuit, extending the case beyond the actions of a rogue security team and into questions of oversight at the top of the company.

That larger question is what gives the documentary its force. The episode is now read as more than a lurid corporate scandal: it is a press-freedom case involving journalists who published criticism of a powerful tech company, and a warning about how internal security apparatuses can be turned against reporters and other critics. eBay’s response, the criminal convictions, and the revived civil case have kept the pressure on former executives and raised the stakes for companies that try to manage reputational damage through intimidation.