Legendary engineer and Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak is suing Google-owned YouTube over a series of Bitcoin scams that reportedly used Wozniak’s name and likeness to lure in victims.
According to a report by Bloomberg News, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak is suing YouTube for failing to remove cryptocurrency scams that used his name to draw in victims. To make matters worse, Wozniak claims that YouTube has failed to respond to his demands to remove the videos from YouTube.
Wozniak claims that several scammers used images and videos of him to request Bitcoin donations. The videos claimed that the donor would receive twice the amount of their donation in return. Breitbart News reported extensively on the recent Twitter hack during which hacker deployed a similar “Bitcoin donation” scam.
“But when users transfer their cryptocurrency, in an irreversible transaction, they receive nothing back,” Wozniak stated, “YouTube has been unapologetically hosting, promoting, and directly profiting from similar scams.”
Social media platforms like YouTube have claimed in previous legal disputes that they are not responsible for content posted by users. The platforms cite Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which claims that internet platforms cannot be held liable for content created by users. This area of the law has faced intense scrutiny over the past several years.
The cryptocurrency scam has appeared on major platforms over the past few weeks. Influential leaders as Bill Gates and Elon Musk saw their Twitter accounts compromised by scammers. Now, Wozniak and 17 other victims are looking to force YouTube and other platforms to provide adequate security and prevention measures to ensure that these scams don’t arise in the future.
Stay tuned to Breitbart News for more updates on this story.
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