Hunter Moore

Hunter Moore, 26, this week sold IsAnyoneUp.com – where people were encouraged to send in intimate pictures of their exes – to Bullyville.com for an undisclosed fee.

He said he cut the deal to ‘stand up for under-age bullying’, with its new patrons saying the controversial site ‘served no public good’ and ‘that is why it’s offline’.  Moore earned up to $20,000 each month from his site, run by a team of four, that attracted more than 300,000 hits each day and became popular across the world.

It would see subscribers publishing their ex-partner’s pictures, their full name and links to the social networking sites – all without their permission.

But, in a letter detailing his decision to sell the firm, he revealed he struggled to make ends meet and turned to porn to make money.  He wrote: ‘The bills were getting too insane and I had to turn to the porn game for extra money but it’s too shady and, in my opinion, it ruined the site.’

Constantly threatened with legal action by people whose pictures appeared, he was also warned by Facebook because many of the photographs were lifted from the site.  He reportedly ignored a cease and desist letter from the web giant, and said he sent the social networking site’s lawyers a picture of his genitals in reply.

The purchased domain now redirects straight to the Bullyville site, where letters from Moore and McGibney have been posted.

Moore wrote:  ”The site was a blessing for me and still is, but I am burned out and I honestly can’t take another underage kid getting submitted and having to go through the process of reporting it and dealing with all the legal drama of that situation.”

McGibney said he ‘commended’ Moore for ‘having the courage to write this letter, knowing that he’s going to face a massive amount of negativity for doing so.’

He said: ‘I’ve known Hunter for quite some time now, and the fact of the matter is that he’s a very smart guy.  While he has been misguided, he is very astute and socially observant.