Plaintiff Alleges Being Stalked by ‘Trolls’ Connected to ex-Topix, Google CEOs

Google removed to U.S. District Court for Central California in Los Angeles Wednesday a complaint (docket 2:23-cv-07389) in which pro se plaintiff Virginia Hoge alleges she was “stalked, harassed and spied on online” for 13 years by “trolls” connected with Chris Tolles, then-CEO of the social media website Topix. The crimes were “facilitated and supported” by former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, it said. Hoge alleges this was in retaliation for her having become a whistleblower on Topix, which Tolles sold to Publishers Clearing House in 2019. The trolls used sophisticated tools to spy on the Hoge’s phone calls, emails, text messages and photos on her phone, said her complaint. They also were able to stalk Hoge’s Amazon and YouTube online viewing, it said.