Citing the Communications Decency Act of the California law, YouTube says that it cannot be treated as publishers for any third-party content. Thus, it claims immunity from the frauds that took place.
On Monday, July 20, Google‘s video-streaming platform YouTube filed a motion against Ripple lawsuit on the company. The motion dismisses Ripple’s claims that YouTube allowed XRP giveaway scam videos to be functional on its platform. Ripple alleged that YouTube’s negligence and complicity for XRP giveaway scams led to a bad image for the cryptocurrency and its investors.
In the lawsuit, Ripple also cited instances of scammers defrauding the victims of “millions of XRP valued at hundreds of thousands of dollars”. Besides, the crypto company also showed an instance where the scammer amassed $15,000 in XRP from a victim. As a result, Ripple claimed compensation for the major damage to its reputation and the resulting financial losses.
YouTube has outrightly rejected all these allegations and claims that it doesn’t hold any responsibility. In its motion, YouTube’s legal counsel cites a California law and says that Ripple should rather file a lawsuit against the fraudsters. Under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, the counsel notes that “interactive computer services,” like YouTube aren’t responsible for the content third-party publishers.
In its defense, YouTube notes that they are also the victims of the scammers who target their platform security and commit scams. In this manner, YouTube claims immunity from the counterfeit content published on its platform.
YouTube Dismissing Claims of Any Direct Involvement in XRP Scams
The motion also dismisses Ripple’s arguments saying that YouTube hasn’t willingly or knowingly engaged in the scam activity. Additionally, it also dismisses Brad Garlinghouse‘s accusations that YouTube uses his name and identity to promote illegal activities. The motion notes:
“(…) Plaintiffs do not allege that YouTube had knowledge of any specific instances of trademark infringement that it failed to remove, and as a matter of law YouTube had no affirmative obligation to preemptively seek out and remove potentially infringing content. For these reasons, all of Plaintiffs’ claims should be dismissed. And whether YouTube ‘approved’ or ‘endorsed’ the ads by allowing them to be published is immaterial.”
YouTube noted that Ripple hasn’t provided enough proof of the platform’s involvement in this scheme. It also adds that it is constantly working to remove scammy content whenever alerted.
Steve Wozniak Sues YouTube for Bitcoin Scam
While YouTube just tries to move away from one trouble, it finds itself in another! Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak sues YouTube for letting Bitcoin giveaway scams functional on its platform.
Wozniak filed the lawsuit earlier this week on Tuesday in the California court. Wozniak and 17 others are suing YouTube and its parent company Google over the video scams. The filing reads:
“As a result of defendants’ egregious failures to act and affirmative misconduct in promoting this criminal enterprise, plaintiff Wozniak has suffered, and continues to suffer, irreparable harm to his reputation, and YouTube users, including plaintiffs, have been defrauded out of millions of dollars”.
It looks like YouTube has some more answering to do here. Back in 2018, YouTube joined other social media platforms in banning advertisements by crypto companies. The decision was in response to the then rising cryptocurrency frauds and scams in the market.
Bhushan is a FinTech enthusiast and holds a good flair in understanding financial markets. His interest in economics and finance draw his attention towards the new emerging Blockchain Technology and Cryptocurrency markets. He is continuously in a learning process and keeps himself motivated by sharing his acquired knowledge. In free time he reads thriller fictions novels and sometimes explore his culinary skills.
