Yahoo News Ashley Madison: Sex, Lies and Scandal - the true story behind the Netflix doc
‘Life is short. Have an affair.’
Ashley Madison’s bombshell tagline makes it clear from the outset what the dating site was intended for.
Founded in 2002 by Darren Morgenstern, Ashley Madison (so-called because they were the two most popular girls’ names at the time) was the premier destination for those seeking an extramarital affair. Its popularity stemmed from its discrete nature, boasting extensive security measures to keep any indiscretions top secret.
Ashley Madison was there to tap into a fantasy of duality – where you could be a good, loving and faithful partner at home but still have hot, illicit encounters in hotels with strangers.
However, the fantasy gave way to a brutal reality in 2015 when the supposedly-secure site was hacked, releasing names, addresses and photos of millions of Ashley Madison’s users in a large data dump.
Now, new Netflix three-part series, Ashley Madison: Sex, Lies and Scandal, explores what happened when the data was leaked online, and the devastating fallout for users and their families.
What is Ashley Madison?
Toronto-based businessman Morgenstern was inspired to create Ashley Madison after seeing a statistic that claimed 30% of people on dating sites were already married. The website promised it would be clandestine, to stop its married users from being caught out and effectively torpedoing their own lives.
While Ashley Madison initially proved to be a modest success, it wasn’t until Noel Biderman became company CEO that its popularity skyrocketed. With close friend Evan Back handpicked to join the company as vice president of sales, the pair decided to revel in Ashley Madison’s somewhat sordid reputation.
With North America’s somewhat conservative values, adverts promoting the Ashley Madison brand were rejected – however, the website did become the talk of daytime TV shows, with Biderman keen to personally promote the brand himself (alongside his wife Amanda, who often joined him). What made Ashley Madison more palatable, he explained, was that the site didn’t make people cheaters – it merely provided a service for those who were looking to stray already. In fact, he went as far to say he saved marriages, as he allowed people to privately indulge in a fantasy.
Despite advertisers’ reluctance to feature Ashley Madison, the brand grew. In 2015, it boasted 37 million users in over 40 countries. Biderman, who claimed to be in a monogamous relationship, was known as the ‘king of infidelity’.
What happened in the 2015 data leak?
Anonymous hackers, calling themselves The Impact Team, targeted Ashley Madison, threatening to expose the site’s cheating users and the “fraud” company that facilitated them if the website wasn’t shut down in 30 days. In July 2015, they made good on their threats, posting the personal details of more than 30 million users on the internet. This included names, addresses, credit card details, messages, photos – even sexual preferences.
Some of Biderman’s personal emails were also leaked, which revealed his own affairs as well as an alleged plan to hack competitor sites.
Biderman was also thought to be keen to invest in a company called What’s Your Wife Worth?, a frankly sexist app which would allow users to upload pictures of women and attach monetary value based on their attractiveness.
Although discretion was meant to be Ashley Madison’s MO, it transpired the website wasn’t very secure at all. Despite offering a ‘full delete’ of customer’s details for an additional fee, it transpires Ashley Madison never deleted any information from its servers.
Speaking in the documentary series, Back says: “The promise of security, anonymity and safety was just something we said. It wasn’t something we did.”
Another shocking revelation was of Ashley Madison’s then 5.5 million female accounts, over 90% of them were either dormant or fake – meaning the 31 million men on the site potentially risking their marriage and family life did so for women who didn’t really exist.
What was the fallout?
The internet reacted with glee following the Ashley Madison hack, which saw some high-profile names caught up in the scandal. Reality TV star Josh Duggar, the Real Housewives Of New York star Kristen Taekman’s husband and US politician Eliot Spitzer were caught up in the leak.
But while there was a level of schadenfreude amongst those spectating online, genuine tragedy stemmed from the hack. The Netflix documentary series discusses the tragic case of religious minister and professor John, who took his own life after he was fired for his role after his name was in the leak. John had previously suffered from a sex addiction, and expressed sorrow for his actions in his suicide note.
While some Ashley Madison employees initially thought Biderman himself may have been responsible for the leak, the inclusion of his own emails quickly dispelled that notion. He stepped down from the company, with a statement from Ashley Madison explaining Biderman’s departure “was in the best interests of the company”. According to his LinkedIn, he now works in crypto. Whether he’s still married to Amanda is less clear, however; while some places report the couple’s divorce was finalized in 2018, other outlets say the pair are still together.
Where is Darren Morgenstern now?
Morgenstern left Ashley Madison in 2007, selling the company to Avid Life Media. Per a report in 2016, Morgenstern is now running a business incubator that invests in health and wellness companies and nutrition counselling.
Is Ashley Madison still running today?
However, while the consequences were seismic, the leak did not shut Ashley Madison down. Rob Segal became CEO, and promised to hike up security measures and protections for users. The website also settled out of court for victims of the hack, paying out $11.2m (£8.9 million) in 2017. Now, Ashley Madison has more users than ever – claiming to have 70 million profiles on the site. It seems for many, life is still too short not to have an affair.
Ashley Madison: Sex, Lies and Scandal review
The Netflix three-parter digs deep into the early days of Ashley Madison, and how it revelled in its debauchery. It's an interesting exposure into the human psyche: whenever Ashley Madison's adverts were widely complained about in media coverage, sign-ups spike.
But if you're looking for a neat, satisfying explainer about who did this and why, you're going to be disappointed. While we see the team hiring a Swedish hacking company to see who's behind the leak, we get nowhere. The hackers behind the cyber attack is still at large, and the after-effects can still be felt.
What the series does do well is emphasising the deep sadness and emptiness of the whole affair (if you pardon the pun). These men threw their lives away for bots and scammers on Ashley Madison, chasing a fantasy that never really existed.
Ashley Madison: Sex, Lies and Scandal is available to watch on Netflix
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