Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak has misplaced his lawsuit in opposition to Youtube over bitcoin giveaway scams utilizing his identify and picture. The choose reportedly stated that “Youtube and its mother or father, Google LLC, are protected by the federal regulation that shields web platforms from accountability for content material posted by customers.”
Bitcoin Giveaway Scams Proceed on Youtube as Steve Wozniak Loses Lawsuit
Steve Wozniak has misplaced his lawsuit in opposition to Youtube over bitcoin giveaway scams on the video-sharing platform fraudulently utilizing his identify and picture. Bloomberg conveyed that Decide Sunil R. Kulkarni of the Superior Court docket of Santa Clara County stated in a tentative ruling Wednesday:
Youtube and its mother or father, Google LLC, are protected by the federal regulation that shields web platforms from accountability for content material posted by customers.
Scammers have been utilizing Youtube to submit movies claiming that well-known persons are giving freely bitcoin or different cryptocurrencies, similar to ether. They promise to double the quantity of bitcoin despatched to them.
Moreover Wozniak, scammers have used the names and pictures of Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, Microsoft co-founder Invoice Gates, and Richard Branson. They’ve additionally used some well-known individuals within the crypto house, similar to Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong and Ethereum’s Vitalik Buterin. Bitcoin Information reported in July final yr that the Elon Musk bitcoin giveaway rip-off raked in hundreds of thousands of {dollars}.
Wozniak and 17 different fraud victims sued Youtube and Google in July final yr. They argued within the lawsuit that Part 230 of the Communications Decency Act shouldn’t apply to their case as a result of Youtube not solely did not take away the rip-off movies however “materially contributed” to the rip-off.
Wozniak claimed that the video-sharing platform profited from the rip-off by promoting focused advertisements, driving visitors to the fraudulent movies after falsely verifying the scammers’ Youtube channels.
Nonetheless, Decide Kulkarnia advised Wozniak that these components weren’t sufficient to beat the immunity offered by Part 230. She gave the Apple co-founder 30 days to revise his criticism.
Do you assume Youtube is at fault for permitting bitcoin giveaway scams to persist on its platform? Tell us within the feedback part beneath.
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