Pharma Bro Martin Shkreli banned from Twitter for harassment

Having trouble with stalkers or harassers on Twitter? No problem, there’s an easy solution: just become moderately famous!

Martin Shkreli, who got famous for jacking up the price of HIV medication and now keeps his fame going through evil-villain performance-art, just got banned from Twitter for making a reporter’s life miserable/scary.

Her name is Lauren Duca, and she’s a writer for Teen Vogue (among other outlets). After her article about Donald Trump gaslighting the country blew up, she started getting unsolicited slobbering advances from Martin.

First he invited her to the inauguration, to which she said she’d rather eat her own organs. Should’ve been the end of their exchange right there, right? Nope.

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From there, Martin got increasingly awful, posting photos of her in his Twitter banner. He photoshopped his face over that of her husband. He made snide sarcastic comments about his obsession. And of course, because he has a ton of followers, he gave them permission to join him in the harassment.

This is behavior that, before Twitter, manifested as peeping in windows and taking photos of a person from very far away, then calling them and breathing heavily on the phone. Thanks, technology, for making that sort of thing even easier to do.

This would probably have just escalated if Duca hadn’t tweeted at Jack Dorsey “how is this allowed?” Before long, Martin was suspended from the site. So long.

This probably won’t reflect well on Martin once his trial starts — he’s out on bail right now, soon to answer for charges related to his pharmaceutical price-hikes. Enjoy your freedom for now.