For context, WordPress powers more than 40% of the web, and while any individual or company is free to take the open-source project and run a website themselves, a number of businesses have sprung up to sell hosting services and technical expertise off the back of it. These include Automattic, which Mullenweg set up in 2005 to monetize the project he’d created two years previous, and WP Engine.
Automattic is also being forced to remove a list of WP Engine customers on a site that was created to show how many customers have stopped using WP Engine since Mullenweg launched his campaign. It must also remove a check box on its login page that requires users to confirm that they are not affiliated with WP Engine