Music executive Larry Jackson is taking legal action to identify the anonymous person or people behind what he calls a coordinated, malicious, and ongoing campaign aimed at him, his independent label Gamma, and the label’s artists. The case matters because it centers on how quickly false claims can be amplified online and turned into reputational damage for a label and its roster.
Jackson says the attacks began after a Bloomberg story
In a 12-page complaint filed in New York and obtained by Rolling Stone, Jackson says the campaign started shortly after Bloomberg published a story on April 23 casting him as one of the masterminds behind Kanye West’s risky comeback. According to the complaint, unidentified figures then launched the websites larryjacksonexposed.com and gammaexposed.com.
Jackson says those sites published false, misleading, and defamatory statements about him and Gamma. The complaint says one allegation claimed he used bot-generated purchases to inflate sales figures for Bully, West’s latest album.
The lawsuit targets claims about Kanye West and Gamma
The lawsuit also says the websites falsely claimed Jackson lied to Gamma staff about a contractual provision with Kanye West that said the artist would be dropped if he had any racist or antisemitic outburst. Jackson says that allegation is not true and falsely suggests dishonesty and deception in his management of Gamma.
Jackson, who declined to comment for the story, says the alleged smear campaign has caused substantial harm. He says his company tried to investigate the websites but found they were part of a network that masks the true hosting origin server IP address.
Bot accounts and subpoenas are at the center of the fight
Jackson says the person or people behind the alleged attack also used a coordinated network of bot accounts on X and Reddit to amplify the content. The lawsuit says that made the campaign appear organic when in fact it was orchestrated by a single actor or group of actors working in concert.
Jackson says he needs the court system to help identify the alleged perpetrators, likely through subpoenas.
A case with echoes in other online smear fights
The new lawsuit is similar to a 2022 case brought by All Time Low to unmask anonymous individuals who claimed in social media posts that group members sexually harassed or assaulted teen fans. The band later dropped the complaint after saying its investigation proved the claims were false and damaging online rumors.
Jackson’s claims also echo allegations in the ongoing legal battle between Rebel Wilson and Amanda Ghost, where Ghost claimed smear websites were launched against her by the same crisis management firm that later became involved in Blake Lively’s legal war with Justin Baldoni.
What to watch next: whether the court grants Jackson the subpoenas he says he needs to identify who is behind the websites and the bot-driven campaign.
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