Freelance journalist Ben Touati says ClickOut Media laid him off in March, then published gambling guides under his name two months later. On May 26, he opened his author page on Esports Insider and found five articles he says he had never written, all carrying his byline.
According to Press Gazette, the five pieces were published between 5:39 a.m. and 6 a.m., one a day, running through May 29. Touati described the articles as thin and empty, calling them “lazy” and “slop,” with no sign that “an actual human” was behind them. He told Press Gazette the episode was “a real slap in the face.”
Layoff explanation included AI-driven output gains
Touati is based in Stockholm and had contributed to ClickOut Media titles including Techopedia, Esports Insider and The Escapist. His work covered AI, cryptocurrency, technology, gaming, esports and comics. He said a manager once referred to him as “Nerd in Chief,” though that was never his formal title.
He said he had thrown himself into the job. “I even wrote about comics, which was almost a lifelong dream for me. I got press passes for events, that sort of thing.”
ClickOut Media revoked his system access on March 9, and his working relationship ended on March 23. Touati said the immediate explanation was that Esports Insider had been removed from Google’s index and could no longer generate enough revenue. Beneath that, he said, a manager told him several freelancers had been let go because there was not enough work and because everyone was using AI to push productivity higher.
Two months later, that higher output appeared under his name in the form of five articles he says he did not write.
GDPR complaint led to byline removal
On June 2, Touati filed a complaint under the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation, arguing that his personal data had been misused. The report says a person’s name is treated as personal data under GDPR, and inaccurate data can be corrected or erased at the request of the individual concerned. After the complaint, ClickOut Media removed his byline from the five articles and replaced it with another writer’s name.
As Touati put it, he was not trying to recover payment for the pieces. He wanted his name back.
Press Gazette said ClickOut Media’s registered UK entity is Finixio. The report also cited Section 84 of the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, which states that a person has the right not to be falsely identified as the author of a work. Anyone who distributes such a work to the public while knowing, or having reason to believe, that the attribution is false infringes that right, and the protection continues for 20 years after death. The article contrasted that with Article 6bis of the Berne Convention, which protects the right to claim authorship, while Section 84 protects the inverse: the right not to have one’s name attached to work one did not create.
ClickOut Media’s public response consisted of two sentences: “We use AI-assisted content where appropriate, accompanied by human checks and editing. We continue to improve the accuracy of AI agents, as well as our human editorial processes.” The statement did not explain why the company used a former contributor’s name on AI-generated content.
Press Gazette later reported 28 more articles on German site
The issue did not end there. In an update published on July 15, Press Gazette reported that after the German-language version of Esports Insider went back online, 28 gambling-related articles appeared on the site under Touati’s name. Their publication dates ran from May 15 to July 14.
Touati said, “Every single one falls after March 9, which is the day ClickOut took away my access, and from March 23 I wasn’t even an employee.” The article noted that this follow-up has so far been reported only by Press Gazette.
- March 9: ClickOut Media revoked Ben Touati’s system access
- March 23: His working relationship with the company ended
- May 26: He found five articles on his author page that he says he did not write
- June 2: He filed a GDPR complaint, and the bylines were later removed
- July 15: Press Gazette reported 28 more articles under his name on the German-language site
Press Gazette tied the case to Finixio’s wider publishing model
ClickOut Media describes itself as a marketing company focused on web3, finance and technology. Press Gazette said its parent company, Finixio, generated about £40 million in revenue in 2024, has management in Malta and controls more than 200 domains.
Press Gazette described the model this way: acquire technology and gaming media sites that already have readers and Google authority, replace reporters with AI, then insert casino affiliate links. Google has a name for the tactic — site reputation abuse. Inside the industry, it is often called parasite SEO.
The report said the acquired titles include The Escapist, Videogamer, Esports Insider, Techopedia, Sportscasting, She Kicks and GamesHub.
Press Gazette also referred to a February investigation in which it identified two “journalists,” Brian Merrygold and Callum Mercer. Their profile images were flagged by IdentifAI as AI-generated, and their articles were also identified by Pangram as AI-generated. Brian Merrygold’s bio described him as a “senior iGaming and sports betting analyst” and a “lifelong gamer.” Metacritic later removed Merrygold’s review of Resident Evil: Requiem. Co-founder Marc Doyle said, “Metacritic’s policy is absolutely not to include AI-generated critic reviews.”
The report added that some AI reporter avatar filenames still contained the word ChatGPT.
TechCrunch list linked other layoffs to AI in 2026
The BlockTempo article also cited a TechCrunch list updated on July 25 that tracks large technology companies that publicly pointed to AI when explaining layoffs in 2026. Monday.com joined as the 21st company on the list after announcing in July that it would cut about 630 jobs, or roughly 20% of its workforce.
TechCrunch, citing Financial Times data, said the US technology sector has cut nearly 140,000 jobs so far this year.
In most layoffs, a worker’s name disappears from the company website along with the role. Touati says his did not.