Colin Purrington: SLAPPed for posting a product review

Colin Purrington is a nature photographer and blogger in Pennsylvania who was sued by Spartan Mosquito in 2020 for posting a review of the company’s Spartan Mosquito Eradicator product. While Pennsylvania has state anti-SLAPP legislation, the lawsuit was filed in federal court. To end SLAPPs like this on the federal level and the threat they pose to our right to free speech, we need universal coverage of SLAPP laws across all state and federal jurisdictions.

Colin’s answers have been edited for clarity and length. Colin spoke with Caitlin Howard, content strategist with Breach Collective, a member of the Protect the Protest coalition.

How did this begin for you? 

I saw an online ad somewhere for something called the Spartan Mosquito Eradicator. It's just a plastic tube, it has this white powder in it, and you’re supposed to add warm water to this granulated substance and then hang it in your yard. I was intrigued. I went to a local hardware store and bought myself a box of them to set them up in my yard for the summer. And I watched them all summer. I would come close to them with my camera – I like to take photographs – to see if I could see any mosquitoes nearby. I never saw a single mosquito near it. When I looked to see if any insects were inside, I never saw mosquitoes inside. Other things inside like spiders, beetles, yellow jackets, lots and lots of fruit flies, about 20 different insects, arthropods, but never mosquitoes. I quickly figured out that this was not an effective device and I was struck that it didn't work at all. 

Why was it important to you to speak out about this? 

The company said it was the best mosquito control device ever made; that it controls 95% of mosquitoes in the yard – “eradicates” them. I was amazed that they could get away with that, which prompted me to do a couple of things. I started by contacting the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to tell them that this company seemed to be making untrue claims. And then I also thought reviewing the product would help get it regulated. I have a blog and I like blogging about technology and biology related themes. So I wrote a review with all of my views about why this device probably would never work and that the people marketing it probably knew that and were pitching it in a way that would fool people, which I thought was pretty deceptive. Having an interest in biology along with a public facing website I was hoping I could express my skepticism in a way that most people would understand. The company is saying it definitely kills adult mosquitoes, and there's no evidence that it does and there's evidence to the contrary, in fact. And where are people going to get that information other than a blog? Because it's not available in a single spot anywhere else.

Had you spoken out like this before? What is your history with using free speech to review products or companies?

This is the first time for a mosquito product. I did highlight another company's plagiarism one time. They had a website document with tips and tricks about how to make scientific posters and it turned out that they copied their information from my website on the topic. I wrote a blog post revealing the plagiarism and then they threatened to sue me, telling me via their lawyer that it was me who copied them. They were trying to take my work and claim it as their own and then sue me in the process for speaking up about it. So that was my first exposure to a SLAPP threat. But they backed down because I publicized it.

What was it like when you found out that you were being sued?

I never saw it coming. I was surprised. I was not happy about it. Because from my point of view, they have no grounds to sue me. Everything I wrote on my blog is factually true. 

They sued me for defamation and slander, saying that the content of my blog undermined their sales. So they said they lost money because of what I shared with the public and with regulatory agencies. It's a weird thing –  if everything I've said is true and their product is a scam, are they still allowed to claim that what I reveal to the world causes financial harm? If you're making a faulty product and people find out and you go belly up, the company should be to blame for coming out with a product that doesn't work.

Their lawyers petitioned the judge to allow them to just tape it to my front door. So when I woke up it was on my glass door with a whole bunch of strapping tape – “Spartan Mosquito versus Colin Purrington,” informing me that they're suing me for slander, asking for at least $75,000 in damages. And of course I'd have to pay all of their court fees as well. This is not something you want to start your day off with. Even if you think it's outrageous and there's no way they can win. It wasn't wasn't something I could ignore.

How did you feel when you opened this envelope?

I'd say level 10 adrenaline. Pure white hot anger. This company is trying to get money out of me for trying to help people avoid being scammed. 

How has this impacted you?

I feel like everything else in my life has to be put on the backburner. Because if I lose, or if I don't pay attention to it and pretend it's not important and I end up losing by default, I'm out millions of dollars potentially. And then I'd be bankrupt. And the company could go on doing whatever it's doing. So this is the most important thing in my life, and it's the last thing I really want to be doing. It's distracting. And after a while, it becomes the only thing that people ask about. “So how's your court case going?” I'd rather be asked about more interesting things.

It's draining. And that's completely aside from the financial part. It's just always there. 

Has this experience changed how you think about free speech, and your practice of posting reviews and being vocal?

I am even more outraged. Now I look at all these products and think: “Someone should get on this company. They're not advertising correctly.” I get more and more interested in advertising fraud every day.

Have you ever considered giving up or taking down your review?

No, I haven't. They would love that, and I think they thought they were going to get there pretty quickly. That's my assumption. But I don't think they should get away with that. 

What would you say to someone facing a similar threat of legal retaliation for posting important and accurate information?

I'd say on a practical level, make sure you have every piece of digital evidence you can because the company will try to hide that. If you have truth on your side, you want all the information and you want to see how that company is trying to backfill its social media presence with content that would go against truth. So use internet archives, find and make backups of their website, try to figure out if there's a way to get information out of their website before they can delete it. All that is technical. If you get into a situation like I'm in and you're not technical, find someone who can help you do that. 

Also, reach out to organizations like Protect the Protest earlier rather than later. I think I've been very slow to understand that there are a lot of other people facing SLAPPs and to access all the resources out there.