Ripple accuses YouTube of “willful blindness” for ignoring warnings about malicious ads seeking to steal cryptocurrency from users. The legal battle that Ripple started in April is still ongoing.
Ripple rejected YouTube’s claims that it knew nothing about scams claiming to “give away” XRP, Ripple accused the platform of “willful blindness” because of all the advice ignored.
The company behind the XRP token, Ripple, took immediate actions against YouTube in April, accusing the platform of being responsible for the multiple videos that used its logo and the image of CEO Brad Garlinghouse to generate a chain of promotions with scams that ask victims to send XRP to be eligible to receive a larger amount that does not arrive.
YouTube filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit in July. They are claiming there was not any engagement related to scams and, as an online platform, they cannot be accused of being part of a scam network mainly because they cannot be held responsible for third-parties contents.
In response to YouTube’s motion, filed Tuesday, Ripple challenged this lawsuit. The blockchain payments firm argued that the 350 withdrawal notices it sent to YouTube mean that it knew all about the scams, but chose not to act, or only did so weeks or months later.
YouTube is accused of “willful blindness,” and Ripple alleges that it ignored explicit warnings about scams occurring on its platform. In the worst case, multiple scams were uploaded to YouTube every day, some receiving tens of thousands of views in a matter of hours.
Ripple claims that users were defrauded with millions of XRP, worth hundreds of thousands of US dollars, and the company suffered serious reputational damage as a result of YouTube’s inaction.
The filing also alleges that YouTube profited from the ad revenue from the scam videos and “materially contributed” to the situation by giving a verified “brand” to one of the distribution channels. Ripple is not the only company accusing YouTube of not doing enough to stop such scams.
YouTube faces various legal disputes
Apple founder Steve Wozniak, along with 18 other plaintiffs, is also claiming punitive damages from the platform for Bitcoin scam videos that used his image.
About this subject, the cryptocurrency community has been very critical of the video platform due to the double standards that have existed in the policy of crypto-related ads. On the one hand, there are a considerable number of companies and people willing to take legal measures, and on the other, there is YouTube’s platform that does not move to stop fraudulent ads but has banned real ads or programs about bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies in other occasions.
In June this year, the Bitcoin.com channel, run and founded by Roger Ver, was temporarily banned for a “violation of the terms of service”. The channel was reactivated again shortly after, but the fact was enough to upset crypto enthusiasts who are aware of the irregularities in YouTube’s crypto ad policy.
Bitcoin.com has not been the only one, Ivan On Tech’s channel has also suffered from YouTube politics to the point where all of the content creator’s videos were taken down without any proper explanation.
By: Jenson Nuñez.
