The Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak is among the 18 plaintiffs that filed the lawsuit on Tuesday, which seeks punitive damages, a trial by jury, and demands video sharing platform to remove all bitcoin giveaway scams and promotions using Wozniak’s name and likeness. The lawsuit stated that the video-sharing giant YouTube had been unapologetically hosting, promoting, and directly profiting from bitcoin giveaway scams. The suit praised Twitter for acting “swiftly and decisively” to shut down malicious accounts and “protect its users from the scam.”
“Bitcoin scams falsely use images and videos of Plaintiff Steve Wozniak.”
The complaint filed with the Superior Court of the State of California in the county of San Mateo stated that YouTube featured a steady stream of scam videos and promotions that falsely used images and videos of Plaintiff Steve Wozniak. These bitcoin giveaway scams that use images of famous tech entrepreneurs have defrauded YouTube users out of millions of dollars.” The plaintiffs seek to recover punitive damages from the world’s leading video-sharing platform. The lawsuit further alleged that the images of other well-known entrepreneurs, including Bill Gates, Elon Musk, and Michael Dell, were also exploited in these crypto giveaway scams.
YouTube has previously faced the same accusations.
This is not the first time that the world’s leading video-sharing platform has faced these accusations. Earlier, Ripple Labs, along with CEO Brad Garlinghouse, sued the video-sharing platform for allegedly failing to effectively police fake XRP giveaway scams that were causing monetary and reputational harm to the blockchain-based company. YouTube has been accused of not taking proper measures and removing content that promotes crypto scams. Ironically enough, the video-sharing giant went on a surge earlier this year when it deleted legitimate cryptocurrency-based channels.
According to screenshots attached in the complaint, the scams involving Apple co-founder Wozniak told users that he is hosting a “BTC giveaway” event.
