Yes, I'm suing Matt Taibbi

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Today myself and Hachette, my publisher for OWNED, filed an anti-SLAPP request with SDNY to obtain attorney’s fees from Matt Taibbi.

As I’ve documented here and elsewhere, Taibbi filed a frivolous defamation suit against me in November 2025 over my book, claiming that the rhetorical flourishes and cover amounted to a malicious attack on his character and reputation. It wasn’t the strongest case, to put it mildly—and, thankfully, Judge George B. Daniels saw it that way too, dismissing it with prejudice on May 5.

Taibbi used his financial leverage to file the suit in order to harass and intimidate me, and send a message to other would-be critics that if they say things he doesn’t like, he’ll make it costly. Filing the lawsuit—which fits the SLAPP, or Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation, definition—is meant to enforce that warning. Even if he loses, I’m still on the hook for tens of thousands of dollars in attorney’s fees.

New York’s anti-SLAPP law is meant to discourage this kind of behavior from the powerful, which is likely why Taibbi filed in federal court. But the use of anti-SLAPP in New York’s federal courts is an open question, and one that has tilted in recent years toward a broader application.

This lawsuit, to my mind, does three things:

1. recoups legal fees for this frivolous lawsuit, which I believe was filed with the primary intention of intimidation

2. adds to the growing caselaw around federal anti-SLAPP

3. hopefully makes Taibbi think twice the next time he goes after one of his critics to intimidate and harass them into silence

Taibbi has often positioned himself as a defender of free speech and open discussion, but the defamation lawsuit proves that he only thinks that under certain circumstances. If he wants to try to bully me out of saying what I believe, he’s in for a shock—and I’m hopeful that once we succeed with this motion, the price of censorship will be enough to stop him from doing it again.

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