Letter fr Brian Glicklich to Twitter GC Vijaya Gadde (PDF)

LEWITT, HACKMAN, SHAPIRO,
MARSHALL & HARLAN
David Gurnick, Esq.

DGURNICK@LEWITTHACKMAN.COM
(818) 9 0 7 - 3 2 8 5

A

LAW CORPORATION

(818) 990-2120
TELECOPIER (818) 981-4764

16633 VENTURA BOULEVARD

WWW. LEWITTHACKMAN. COM

ELEVENTH FLOOR

ENCINO. CALIFORNIA

91436-1865

REFER TO FILE NUMBER

16735-1

January 26,2015

Vijaya Gadde, Esq.
Twitter, Inc.

vijaya@twitter.com
1355 Market St Ste 900

San Francisco, CA 94103
Re: Brian Glicklich

Dear Vijaya:
1.

Introduction.

As you know from prior communications, this law firm represents Brian Glicklich. Mr.
Glicklich serves as spokesperson for broadcaster Rush Limbaugh. Mr. Limbaugh is America's
most listened-to radio broadcaster, with an audience of 20 million people weekly over
approximately 600 radio stations nationwide. Mr. Glicklich is a private individual.

We are concerned that Mr. Glicklich has become the target of improper harassment by a
group ofTwitter users whose actions are violating Twitter Rules. The misconduct includes
perpetrators using Twitter to harass Mr. Glicklich and also advertisers. These actions include
threats, stalking, intimidation, misleading Twitter to improperly suspend Mr. Glicklich's
account, and use of Twitter's platform in other ways that violate Twitter's rules.

This letter asks Twitter to investigate the misconduct, enforce Twitter's rules with regard
to any accounts and perpetrators who are misusing Twitter, and protect Mr. Glicklich's account
from being improperly suspended.
2.

Background.

A group opposed to Rush Limbaugh has conducted a campaign in which they (1) tweet
outrageous false claims about Mr. Limbaugh, (2) tweet photos of CEOs and claim the CEOs
support the false claims, based solely on their companies sponsorship of Mr. Limbaugh's show,
and (3) send large volumes ofrude, unwanted spam tweets that disparage the reputation and

interfere with operations ofthe advertisers. This campaign involves harassment, disparagement
and intimidation.

The perpetrators recently expanded the campaign, to attack Mr. Glicklich, and escalated

with tactics that violateTwitter Rules, disparage Mr. Glicklich and indicatehe is in physical

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LEWITT, HACKMAN, SHAPIRO,
MARSHALL & HARLAN
A

LAW CORPORATION

Vijaya Gadde, Esq.
January 26,2015
Page 2

danger. Mr. Glicklich has been targeted due to his defense against the attacks on Mr. Limbaugh
and advertisers. However, Mr. Glicklich is a private individual who is not in a position to
respond via radio broadcast and paid counter-advertising.
Mr. Glicklich's own use of Twitter has been attempts to expose the true size ofthe
#stoprush activism, identify the group's key members, expose the falsity of their claim to be
customers of sponsors, expose the falsity and unfairness of their actions, and respond with
corrections to their improper tweets. But the perpetrators responded to Mr. Glicklich's
participation on Twitter by using tactics that violate Twitter Rules, including organized, targeted
harassment and threats of physical harm directed against Mr. Glicklich. They are using Twitter to
disseminate photography that includes Mr. Glicklich's wife. They have brought Mr. Glicklich
and his family into their anti-Rush Limbaugh campaign.
The perpetrators are making the following specific false claims using Twitter, as elements of
an overall false narrative that Mr. Glicklich is a bad person, a criminal, a drug addict, a harasser,
a bully, and other pejorative characteristics:
a. They claim Mr. Glicklich committed a "federal crime;"

b. They claim he harasses women;
c. They claim he put a woman into the hospital;

d. They claim his wife performed a sex act on a participant in the activist group;
e. They claim he is addicted to methamphetamines;
f. They claim he is the "filth of Limbaugh's sewer;"
g. They claim he performs sex acts on Rush Limbaugh;
h. They claim he hacked a bank account and caused the account to be overdrafted;

i.

They claim he is a cyberstalker and extortionist.

Each of these claims is false. Each violates Twitter's rule against abuse, targeted abuse and
spam.

The harassing, bullying and stalking postings targeting Mr. Glicklich, include the
following:

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LEWITT, HACKMAN, SHAPIRO,
MARSHALL & HARLAN
A

LAW CORPORATION

Vijaya Gadde, Esq.
January 26,2015
Page 3

j. Stating that the person tweeting the message will make sure Mr. Glicklich will
regret ever posting using the #stoprushhash. This violates Twitter's rule against
violence and threats.

k. Stating it would be "nice if someone hacked [Mr. Glicklich's] emails." This
violates Twitter's rule against abuse and Spam.
1.

Stating Mr. Glicklich should "come after me, bitch... and you'll never forget it,
ever." This violates Twitter's rule against violence and threats.

m. Repetitively distributing, via Twitter, photos of Mr. Glicklich's wedding and
vacation. This violates Twitter's rule against invasion of privacy and abuse, and is
a pattern of organized and individual harassment.
n. Calling for Mr. Glicklich's home phone number to be posted on Twitter so they
can "call him at 2 A.M." This violates Twitter's rule against targeted abuse.

o. Phoning Mr. Glicklich at home. This violates Twittier's rule against targeted
abuse and invasion of privacy.
p. Posting false claims about Mr. Glicklich repetitively, and referencing the
@Anonyops account controlled by individuals aligned with the group known as
Anonymous. This violates Twitter's spam policy, and organized harassment
policy.
q. The perpetrators induced @Anonyops to repeat a false claim to an estimated
320,000 or more accounts, which generated an outpouring of hateful and
threatening Tweets and emails against Mr. Glicklich. This violates the spam
policy and organized harassment policy.
The perpetrators took actions to mislead Twitter to believe incorrectly that Mr. Glicklich
violated Twitter's rules. The perpetrators' actions included:
r. Generating large numbers of false claims that Mr. Glicklich violated Twitter
Rules. The perpetrators claimed falsely that Mr. Glicklich harassed #stoprush
activists. This violates the spam policy and organized harassment policy.
s. Obtaining thousands of false followers ("Spam accounts") to follow Mr.
Glicklich's account, making it appear he violated Twitter's rule against
-3-

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LEWITT, HACKMAN, SHAPIRO,
MARSHALL & HARLAN
A

LAW CORPORATION

Vijaya Gadde, Esq.
January 26,2015
Page 4

buying/inducing followers in the form of Spam Accounts. This violates Twitter's
rule against impersonating others. The perpetrators then reported falsely that Mr.
Glicklich violated Twitter's rule based on the false accounts thev had attached to

his account. This violates the serial accounts and spam policy, and the organized
harassment policy.

t.

Registering numerous Twitter accounts for their own use, and then using these
Spam accounts to tweet and retweet false information; they do this to falsely
make the small group conducting the campaign appear larger. This violates
Twitter's rule against creating multiple accounts for disruptive or abusive
purposes.

u. Using software that calls the Twitter API to let participants easily send large
volumes oftweets. The software itself tells users to monitor the rate of sending
tweets to avoid being noticed by Twitter. This violates the spam policy, and
organized harassment policy, and the API terms.
These actions were taken partly to induce Twitter to suspend Mr. Glicklich's Twitter
account. The improper efforts succeeded in that at least 3 times in the past 2 weeks Twitter
suspended Mr. Glicklich's account. This preventing his efforts to respond to the perpetrators'
false allegations.

The perpetrators have attacked advertisers by:

v. Posting photos of Rush Limbaugh sponsor CEOs alongside outrageous and false
claims about Mr. Limbaugh and charging that the CEO and their business
supports the false claims;
w. Threatening to continue or extend harassment of sponsors unless they stop
advertising on Mr. Limbaugh's show;
x. Using Twitter to encourage followers to harass advertisers, such as by buying and
returning products, to intimidate retailers to stop advertising on Mr. Limbaugh's
show;

y. Suggesting that followers compile and distribute directories of staffmembers of
these companies to facilitate harassment;

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LEWITT, HACKMAN, SHAPIRO,
MARSHALL & HARLAN
A

LAW CORPORATION

Vijaya Gadde, Esq.
January 26, 2015
Page 5

z. When sponsors block tweets from these perpetrators, they alert others in their
group to punish the business by harassing them more, using other Twitter
accounts.

Accompanying this letter are samples of tweets, evidencing each of the above forms of
misconduct, and a spreadsheet of key twitter accounts involved in these campaigns. Mr.
Glicklich advises that these tweets are representative only, and that he has collected and can
provide hundreds of additional tweets with similar characteristics.
3. Requests.

On behalf of Mr. Glicklich, we request that Twitter investigate these matters and on
confirming what is described, enforce Twitter's Rules by taking at least the following actions:

1. Protect Mr. Glicklich's account, @brianglicklich so that the activists are not able to have
it suspended by making false or organized complaints.
2. Delete the estimated 19,000+ Spam accounts that are following Mr. Glicklich.

3. Investigate and confirm the organized harassment and stalking, creation of Spam
accounts and use of the Twitter API to send spam tweets, using metadata available to
Twitter to identify and source these accounts.
4. Cancel accounts that are violating Twitter's rules.

5. Identify and cancel other falsified Twitter accounts that these groups have established,
including those "lying in wait" in the event their current accounts are suspended or
cancelled.

We urge Twitter to make a public statement of the actions taken, to discourage this
misconduct and misuse ofTwitter by users.
Mr. Glicklich and I are available to speak with you by phone to discuss these matters in more
detail.
4.

Conclusion.

Mr. Glicklich is being victimized by an organized group of perpetrators acting in
violation ofTwitter's rules. On behalf of Mr. Glicklich we request that Twitter take the above
steps to investigate, and to end this organized abuse, harassment, threatening behavior, and
-5-

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LEWITT, HACKMAN, SHAPIRO,
MARSHALL & HARLAN
A LAW CORPORATION

Vijaya Gadde, Esq.
January 26, 2015
Page 6

intimidation. We request that Twitter enforce its rules against the organized violators who are
misusing Twitter. Please let me know the means by which you are doing so.

Very truly yours,
LEWITT, HACKMAN, SHAPIRO,
MARSHALL & HARLA]

By:

-6-

David Gurnick

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LEWITT, HACKMAN, SHAPIRO,
MARSHALL & HARLAN
A

LAW CORPORATION

Vijaya Gadde, Esq.
January 26, 2015
Page 7
EXHIBITS/SAMPLE TWEETS
la.

E) CMMorgan retweeted some Tweets you were mentioned in
54m: a_standal Yes, cyber bullying and threats are a federal crime.
Can't wait til police knock on brianglicklich's door socallks
GeeGeeAkili
1 other retweet

lb.

$P julie sigwart

O

*± Follow

jsigwart

socallks ©AnonyOps Yeah he's been
harassing women so badly he put one in the
hospital, ©brianglicklich is an uncivil
monster. #stoprush
RETWEETS

9

FAVORITES

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fi-= »-,

arm

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Hilt. BLDBS'^a

lc.

D The Adversary D AdversAerialOne • 56s

brianglicklich Your .stoprush-stalking tweets are pathetic, your follower count
is pathetic, and your wife blew me.
7:41 PM - 28 Nov 2014 • Details
Hide conversation

-7-

LEWITT, HACKMAN, SHAPIRO,
MARSHALL & HARLAN
A

LAW CORPORATION

Vijaya Gadde, Esq.
January 26,2015
Page 8
The Adversary

<e AdversAerialOne • 5m

brianglickiich She's done it like six times now, by the way. I'm losing count.
1:53 PM -13 Jan 2015- Details
Hide conversation

Id.
4 Zaffod Beeblebrox

ZaffodB • 15s

brianglickiich < still on the meth I see
kommonKat
View conversation

le.

^

Shawtwo

Shawtwo • 1 h

: brianglickiich BTW the businesses can see my tweets, filth of Limbaugh's

Ji\S?£ sewer, Brian StopRush Just you can't LOLOL
View conversation

If.
Mari

narisoLbeck • Dec 13

Is Glicklich on his knees yet for Rush?
r stoprush

lg.

LEWITT, HACKMAN, SHAPIRO,
MARSHALL & HARLAN
A

LAW CORPORATION

Vijaya Gadde, Esq.
January 26, 2015
Page 9

f*% cydniey buffers ©cydniey •Jan 22

StopRush Does anyone have screen caps
of the whole dOxing and calling on the phone
thing with BG? I need them for the feds.
f"^ cydniey buffers ©cydniey •Jan 22

Is viciously hacking someone who is
-V mentallyill considered a hate crime if the
person doing the malicious knows? Need to
know, stoprush
tr*

1

lh.

B Sarah Fournier, ReResist and CMMorgan retweeted a Tweet you were
mentioned in

3h: Pis help report this cyber stalker. brianglickiich trying to
intimidate volunteers of stoprush flushrush. Thanks UniteBlue
justsaying

Matt Osborne

Twitter Suspends Rush Limbaugh's $900/Hour Fixer For Extortion,
Harassment ift.tt/1 FM9feG

2a.
-9-