Investigative Group

Breitbart Tells Sleeping Giants Founder To Prepare For Lawsuit Over Advertiser War

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Attorneys for Breitbart News sent a letter Wednesday to Matt Rivitz, the founder of left-wing activist group Sleeping Giants, demanding he preserve certain documents and communications ahead of a possible lawsuit.

Rivitz’s group has been waging an intense pressure campaign against Breitbart’s advertisers ever since President Donald Trump won the 2016 election.

The left-wing group has been successful: 90 percent of Breitbart’s advertisers left over the span of two months in 2017 and the site has continued bleeding sponsors thanks to Sleeping Giants’ ongoing campaign.

Now Breitbart is preparing to take legal action.

“As you of course know, Breitbart has been the target of a months-long smear campaign by the online activist group ‘Sleeping Giants.’ It has recently been revealed that you are a founder and leader of this group,” Tom Clare, Breitbart’s attorney, wrote in a letter to Rivitz.

Rivitz admitted in July to founding Sleeping Giants after The Daily Caller News Foundation published an investigation naming him as the group’s founder. Clare cited TheDCNF’s reporting in his letter to Rivitz.

“My client is considering potential legal action against you, and we therefore demand that you preserve and retain certain documents in your possession that may be relevant to potential civil claims. These include potential claims concerning unfair, fraudulent, and deceptive practices intended to cause Breitbart economic harm,” Clare wrote, adding:

“We believe that Sleeping Giants has sought to deceive the public and, in particular, purchasers of online advertising, by making false, deceptive, and disparaging claims about Breitbart and the news content it publishes — including, among other things, accusing Breitbart of distributing ‘anti-Semitic’ propaganda, of promoting ‘white supremacy,’ and of being a ‘neo-Nazi propaganda’ website. Sleeping Giants has directed these and similar deceptive and misleading statements to companies that purportedly purchase advertisements appearing on Breitbart’s website — and has encouraged its members and others to do the same.”

Rivitz did not return an email seeking comment.

The letter demands he retain communications with a variety of left-wing organizations including Media Matters, the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Center for American Progress and its affiliated website, ThinkProgress.

The full letter can be seen below.

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