Why Did Ello Delete This User’s Profile?

Twitter user @gewqk revealed that he was contacted by a representative from Ello, “simple, beautiful, and ad-free social network” that has almost half-a-million dollars in VC funding. In the emails provided, the representative claimed that he was in trademark violation of @Clickhole (the handle no longer belongs to ‘Dan’) The Onion’s Buzzfeed-esque parody account.

https://twitter.com/gewqk/status/516002486017331202

https://twitter.com/gewqk/status/516037139805794304

https://twitter.com/gewqk/status/516052017429897216

This is similar to Tumblr deleting a user’s blog to appease Pitchfork (a situation which Gawker says was handled incredibly unprofessionally). Is Ello keeping the brand lords happy in case they need some money in the near future?

Ello is reportedly gaining 31,000 followers every hour. The seven founders say they have no plans to abandon ship (have an exit plan — and this person says otherwise) and they all say they want to continue building Ello for as long as they can.

Ello has received $435k in seed round, not $400 million as written in the email.