Steve Wozniak lost his lawsuit against YouTube, in which Apple co-founder (Apple shares - ticker AAPL) claimed that the video sharing platform failed to prevent bitcoin scams.
Almost a year after he took legal action against YouTube for bitcoin scams with his involvement, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak lost the case. The Supreme Court judge said the video-sharing platform and its parent company Google are protected by federal law.
Wozniak lost BTC-based scam case against YouTube
As reported by ourselves in mid-2020, the co-founder of Apple decided to take action against YouTube after numerous scams with his involvement. More specifically, evildoers and bad guys impersonated Wozniak and promoted fake bitcoin giveaways on YouTube, which targeted countless victims.
Wozniak hired the Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy law firm to file a lawsuit against the world's largest video sharing platform. He argued that YouTube not only failed to stop these scams, but also "contributed materially" to the scams by selling targeted ads that drive traffic.
However, Santa Clara Country Superior Court Judge Sunil Kulkarni ruled in favor of YouTube and its parent company Google on Wednesday. The judge said that the video sharing platform is protected by federal law which protects internet platforms from liability for content posted by users.
Additionally, Judge Kulkarni noted that Wozniak's arguments weren't enough to overcome the immunity provided by Section 230. However, Apple's co-founder has 30 days to try to review his case.
It is worth noting that Wozniak is far from the only celebrity involved in such scams. Some of the other famous names impersonated by the scammers included Elon Musk, Kanye West, and Bill Gates.
Ripple's fight against YouTube
The blockchain-based payment processor has also gone against YouTube as its CEO, Brad Garlinghouse, has been impersonated on multiple occasions in fake XRP giveaways.
Their lawsuit ended in March when both sides resolved the issues without revealing further details. While admitting that the terms of the transaction are confidential, Garlinghouse underscored YouTube's desire to take action against the growing threat of such scams.
He said at the time that both sides reached a mutual understanding to combat these frauds. Additionally, Ripple's forensics team is also committed to helping detect and track stolen funds.
In short, online scams are always on the agenda and for this reason we advise you to be careful when you decide to invest your money. Always do this using safe and regulated platforms, which do not put your funds at risk.
