[api]

Yes. People have issues with it because of Thiel's far right politics, but keep in mind what Gawker did. Publishing a sex tape is a sex crime, or damn close. Imagine if Hogan were a woman and its obvious. Imagine if they published a sex tape of an actress or outed a community activist in a conservative area as gay. In some cases outing people as gay can put them in danger.

BTW I also think it was fine for Alex Jones to get deplatformed and sued for encouraging people to harass school shooting victims. Free speech doesn't mean libel, slander, blackmail, targeted harassment, sex abuse, etc. won't get you sued.

What is alleged with the National Enquirer here is much worse. It looks a lot like they are acting as blackmail enforcers for Trump and/or the Saudis. Like I said others are now coming forward.

[stef25]

If I'm not mistaken, Thiel went after Gawker (through Hogan) because they exposed him as being gay. He also happened to be in Saudi Arabia at the time.

Whenever a magazine publishes some trash story attacking someone they should ask themselves what's the worst that could happen.

When you attack people like Bezos and Thiel, you better be sure of what you're doing.

[api]

Oh wow. I didn't know about the SA part. That changes everything. You could almost call that attempted murder.

[bad_user]

> When you attack people like Bezos and Thiel, you better be sure of what you're doing.

The law should be the same for everyone.

Are Thiel and Bezos above the law, or are they the only ones that can afford the protection of the law?

If so, then we have failed as a society.

[P_I_Staker]

> Imagine if they published a sex tape of an actress

I'm pretty sure this has been done. Normally, they get out in front of it, so they can at least cash in. Personally, I'm not thrilled with rich people being able to shut down publications that they don't like. That said, I don't know how to feel about the Gawker case. It's easy not to care, when the victim is so unsympathetic.

[gamblor956]

While a number of F-list celebrities like Paris Hilton deliberately released their sex tapes, the sex tapes of actresses and other celebrities released without their consent generally resulted in pretty heft settlements for the women, and in a few cases prison sentences for the distributors. (See e.g., Erin Andrews.)