The CEO is continuing to double down today, more than 2 months after the original conversation, so I'm not sure that's likely: https://twitter.com/amasad/status/1401957368510906369
If the intern did steal code, the CEO only wants the project to be taken down?
Any IP agreement worth their salt would require Replit to send a formal/legal request asking the intern to destroy and return any stolen IP.
So I call bullshit on the CEO, and the intern should probably sue Replit for slander.
If the CEO is making the stealing part up (seems likely) the intern probably could sue Replit. Intentional copyright infringement/trade secret violations are a crime and my understanding of US law (not a lawyer) is that that makes it actionable regardless of damages.
Should he though? If he wins it seems likely he'll get nominal damages. He'll have invested a huge number of hours of his life into it. He'll be risking being on the hook for some or all of his lawyers fees depend on how the judge feels about awarding costs.
It doesn't seem likely to be worth it. Public shaming of Replit like this is a very cost effective way of punishing Replit... the legal system not so much.
This way you had to expose your own code, but it would easily win you the case in the court of public opinion. The only reason not to do this (that I can think of) is that the intern did not actually copy your code.
"I'm not a business person."
Radon only needs to say it once, it's straight and to the point.
Now at Replit, Amjad is claiming not to be a business person either.
Over and over again.
Nor do I want to commit the fundamental attribution error, like 80% of this thread. Even though there are a few other people offering personal experiences of Amjad rubbing them the wrong way. That tends to happen in a thread of this character.
Here's my best guess: your friend had a bad day and fucked up. Then he doubled down, and now it's out in the open.
Good news is, this is salvageable. He's not getting MeTooed, he didn't embezzle money or steal code. He got paranoid and bullied a former intern.
I think a simple apology and some self reflection would go a long way here. There will always be a mob which takes that as blood in the water, and will say awful things on Twitter. But the bulk of the community, the people who matter, will notice, and accept it if it's sincere.