Urban One: Former Employee Hijacked Twitter Account

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The company is accusing former Richmond part-timer Amir Shabazz of taking over the account belonging to iPower Richmond (WCDX-FM), changing the station’s username and password, and preventing the radio station from being able to use the account. A lawsuit filed this past Friday also states that Shabazz “communicated lewd and/or pornographic material” to iPower Richmond’s followers without the permission of iPower Richmond and that he changed the iPowerRichmond Twitter account username from “RealTalkofVa” to “HennyTalk75,” and deleted all prior posts.

Urban One says Shabazz was hired in September of 2015 as a part-timer and as a representative of the company permitted to use the Twitter account to promote iPower Richmond. He was fired on August 11 of this year and the company alleges that Shabazz hijacked the account within 24 hours of his termination. At the time the company says iPower had 12,500 followers.

The company also alleges that Shabazz created a new account with the username “iPowerRichmond” to prevent the radio station from being able to use that username again. Mr. Shabazz’s use of the iPower Richmond account and communication with its followers was done in an attempt to discredit iPower Richmond, destroy confidence in iPower Richmond, and to market and advertise his own services.

Urban One says, according to some industry standards, each Twitter follower is valued at approximately $2.50/month. “Given iPower Richmond’s approximately 12,500 followers on or about August 11, 2017, the Twitter account had a value of $31,250/month.”

The company is asking the court for a temporary restraining order, a preliminary injunction and a permanent injunction, requiring Shabazz to return all of iPower Richmond’s Twitter account and any confidential information he may have taken. The company is also asking for an unspecified amount of money for the damage done.

Read the entire 55-page lawsuit filed in the Eastern District of Virginia HERE

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