The e-commerce giant had struggled to gain a foothold in a society that prefers to shop in person, with cash, but now Italians are hooked on online shopping.

“People are basically good” was eBay’s founding principle. But in the deranged summer of 2019, prosecutors say, a campaign to terrorize a blogger crawled out of a dark place in the corporate soul.

As seniors find themselves cut off from loved ones during the pandemic, some are turning to automated animals for company.