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Bloggers sue Huffington over Post sale

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By The Drum Team, Editorial

April 13, 2011 | 2 min read

Miffed bloggers who gave their time and energy for free to populate Arianna Huffington’s Huffington post site with material are taking legal action against the founder following its sale to AOL for $315m.

The cash windfall went straight into Huffington’s pocket, leading many former disciples to lose the faith.

As a result a group of such contributors have come together to launch a £64.5m lawsuit aimed at clawing back some of AOL’s largesse for themselves, amongst them trade unionist Jonathan Tasini who likened his predicament to that of a “modern day slave on Arianna Huffington’s plantation.”

It is estimated that the Post was home to around 9,000 unpaid bloggers at its peak, with around a third of the sites value being attributed to their musings.

Defending her position Huffington said: “there's got to be a distinction between everybody who works for a media company and everybody who blogs for a media company. If people go on Newsnight, they don't get paid.”

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