The All Time Low lawsuit was a defamation and libel case the Maryland pop-punk band filed in February 2022 against three anonymous social media users who had accused guitarist Jack Barakat of sexual misconduct, including with a minor. After nearly three years of litigation focused on unmasking the accusers, the band voluntarily dismissed the case in November 2024, with its attorney stating that the investigation had exposed “an orchestrated smear campaign by multiple individuals posing as a fake fan.”
What the Accusers Claimed
The allegations appeared in October 2021 across two platforms. A TikTok user with the handle @mini.grew posted a video claiming that a “famous pop punk band” had invited her onto their tour bus when she was 13, offered her beer, and tried to collect her bra. She did not name the band, but commenters connected the details to All Time Low.
On October 25, 2021, a Twitter account using the handle @ATLstatement posted a first-person account alleging that Barakat had sexually abused the poster starting in 2011, when she was 15 and he was 22, and that the abuse continued for roughly a decade after she snuck backstage during the band’s Dirty Work tour. A third account, @dietsodasage, claimed there were “97 allegations” against the band.
All Time Low called the claims “absolutely and unequivocally false” the same day and said it would investigate and pursue legal action.
The Complaint
On February 3, 2022, all four members — Barakat, singer Alex Gaskarth, bassist Zack Merrick, and drummer Rian Dawson — filed a nine-page complaint in the Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles, case number 22STCV04218. The suit named the three social media users as Does 1 through 3 and brought two causes of action: libel per se under California Civil Code Section 45, and intentional interference with prospective economic advantage.
The complaint described the posts as “false and malicious” and sought damages for reputational harm, lost business opportunities, and canceled events. The band also pledged in the filing to donate any proceeds from the litigation to charities that support victims of sexual abuse.
Unmasking the Anonymous Accusers
Because the defendants were anonymous, most of the case focused on subpoenas to social media platforms. In December 2022, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Daniel S. Murphy ordered Twitter to turn over identifying information for the user behind @ATLstatement, referred to as Jane Doe 2. Judge Murphy found that the complaint stated a “valid claim” because it identified specific statements, alleged they were false, and alleged they were made with actual malice. He noted that accusations of sexual assault constitute “libel per se,” meaning they are defamatory on their face and damages are presumed, and that while the First Amendment protects anonymous speech, “freedom of speech does not extend to defamation.”
Two of the three accounts unraveled quickly. The @mini.grew user (Doe 1) had made her video private after another Twitter user posted photos from the event in question that refuted her account. According to the band’s legal team, Doe 1 later admitted she had posted the video “to be petty towards a peer.” Doe 3, who had cited “97 allegations,” deactivated her account after posting that she felt “weird” about how people interpreted her tweet.
Doe 2 was harder to trace. The account had been created with a temporary “burner” email, and IP addresses connected to the profiles pointed to two Panama-based internet companies, PacketHub S.A. and NordVPN. At a June 2024 hearing, the band’s attorney, Michael B. Garfinkel of Venable LLP, told the court he was working with the U.S. State Department to compel those companies to produce identifying records.
What Investigators Concluded
The investigation eventually determined that Doe 2 was not one person. According to Garfinkel, the @ATLstatement account had been operated by multiple individuals who “spun an elaborate, fabricated story posing as a fan who incredibly and falsely claimed to have traveled with the band for more than 10 years.” The people behind the account had gone “to great lengths to hide their identities,” including routing traffic through the Panama-based services.
“There is no such person and no such incidents occurred,” Garfinkel said. He described the effort as “an orchestrated smear campaign by multiple individuals posing as a fake fan” and said the investigation “proved what All Time Low knew all along — the allegations in the posts are completely and utterly false.”
How the Case Ended
On November 8, 2024, Garfinkel filed a request to dismiss the lawsuit without prejudice, a procedural step that preserves the band’s right to refile. A follow-up hearing had been set for November 13, 2024.
Garfinkel said the band had identified the people behind Doe 2 but chose not to pursue them further: “All Time Low has chosen to handle the matter privately and protect the identities of those behind Doe 2, instead of pursuing further litigation at this time.”
The band released a joint statement calling the case “a challenging time” and thanking fans, peers, and collaborators for their support during the legal process. “With this case dismissed, we remain committed to continuing to foster a healthy, safe environment both at our concerts and within our fan community, and we look forward to the next chapter of All Time Low,” the members said.