I dunno about 'justified'; the way this dude behaves and carefully shades his words makes me think he is cynical enough to understand why he got a free ride on

I dunno about 'justified'; the way this dude behaves and carefully shades his words makes me think he is cynical enough to understand why he got a free ride on Thiel's little butthurt-billionaire ragegasm. I suspect Ayyadurai thought that he'd win this one via attrition - he has a (modest) war chest, an ambulance chaser unencumbered by morals coming off a win with the same play, and a blueprint for winning (carefully select small journalists who can't buy as much justice as you can; keep spending until they cry uncle.). He underestimated the resources Masnick could assemble. His estimation of the expected payout (destroying Masnick's career) on the gamble may have not been insane, but calling it 'justified' seems a stretch.