#WeAreEFF - T-Mobile CEO Invokes Wrath of Twitter After Waging a Sweary War
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One imagines that T-Mobile CEO John Legere wasn't fully aware of that when he took a pretty volatile jab at them on Twitter. Legere was participating in a live Q&A with customers on the platform when the EFF decided to ask him a question about their 'Binge On' unlimited video service. They asked him whether or not the service alters the streaming, or just limits bandwidth. It was something of a followup to an investigation report about the service they published recently, which indeed posited that T-Mobile were slowing the connections to other video services for those who used Binge On. Legere responded with a video message, which you can see below (warning - he swears, badass that he is).
— John Legere (@JohnLegere) January 7, 2016
His defensive stance is somewhat understandable, given how damaging the accusations are to the company's reputation, if true. What is less understandable is the way he chose to bite back. In asking 'who the f***' the EFF are, and who pays them, Legere inadvertently attracted the attention of hundreds of EFF supporters, many of whom were none too happy to educate him.
Oh hi there @JohnLegere, I've been funding the @EFF since before your company T-Mobile had US customers. #WeAreEFF pic.twitter.com/QcceKyDBRN
— Brooke Schreier Ganz (@Asparagirl) January 7, 2016
The problem with going after a tech-based foundation like the EFF is that all their staff, and the majority of their supporters are extremely knowledgeable about that kind of thing, and could offer plenty of evidence to support the EFF's claim of bandwidth strangling. More to the point, a lot of them are T-Mobile customers. Sorry, they were T-Mobile customers. Many responded to say that they were going to cancel their service and move on to another provider, at which point Verizon swooped in and started replying to the tweets in a cynical, but undeniably amusing attempt to capitalise on the chaos.
Yo @JohnLegere!
I’m a proud @EFF member and an ashamed @TMobile customer. Don’t make me pick one of you. #WeAreEFF pic.twitter.com/jxFIY4NB9b
— Aaron Muszalski (@sfslim) January 7, 2016
— Matt Lee (@mattl) January 7, 2016
A lot of people replied to show Legere just how many donors the EFF has, since he was so interested to know who pays them, a line of inquiry which could be interpreted as an accusation of corporate bias, but there's no way to be certain that's what he was getting at. Legere has since tweeted again to confirm that he does in fact know who the EFF are, but he's stirred up so much trouble now that it will likely take more than that to calm the storm.
A notice we're sending today. #WeAreEFF pic.twitter.com/7WQYBiRxzC
— Slidefuse (@slidefuse) January 8, 2016
If T-Mobile are limiting bandwidth on other video services for Binge On users, they could be staring down the barrel of a major lawsuit, but it seems like it might just be case of customers not being fully informed about what they're signing up for. In either case, Legere has handled the whole thing pretty appallingly, and while it's sometimes fun to see corporate representatives swearing, there's a difference between honest informality and just being straight-up rude. This is the latter.
@JohnLegere @EFF And there's the backpedal.
— Kris Slevens (@cpqNetworks) January 7, 2016
Callum is a film school graduate who is now making a name for himself as a journalist and content writer. His vices include flat whites and 90s hip-hop. Follow him @CallumAtSMF
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#WeAreEFF - T-Mobile CEO Invokes Wrath of Twitter After Waging a Sweary War
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Wednesday, January 13, 2016
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Reviewed by Unknown
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Wednesday, January 13, 2016
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