Ben Armstrong, aka BitBoy, has admitted defeat in the Atozy legal battle. Armstrong had filed a $75,000 lawsuit against Erling “Atozy” Mengshoel alleging defamation of character. The crypto influencer says he never intended for the case to go public.
YouTube influencer Ben Armstrong, better known by his pseudonym BitBoy, has admitted defeat in the defamation lawsuit filed against fellow YouTuber Atozy, also known as Erling Mengshoel.
The concession came on August 24 during a BitBoy Crypto live stream. Armstrong’s lawsuit had alleged that a November 2021 Atozy video, “This YouTuber Scams His Fans…BitBoy Crypto,” had called his “honesty, credibility, and reliability” into question.
According to the suit, Atozy’s video, in which he referred to Armstrong as “shady trash,” among other epithets, caused significant harm to Armstrong’s business.
In addition, the influencer was left in a “fragile” emotional state suffering from “severe anxiety” and “episodes of depression”, which led him to seek a financial reward of more than $75,000.
On Wednesday, Armstrong, who appeared to have emotionally recovered from the ordeal, took to YouTube to declare that he was dropping the case. “Atozy, you’ve won,” Armstrong declared.
A Community Reaction
According to Armstrong, his reason for filing the lawsuit was never to extract money from Mengshoel, but rather to force him to remove the video. That plan failed.
Instead of forcing Mengshoel to back down as intended, Armstrong’s tactics prompted the crypto community to rise up against him en masse. Influencer Cobie was among those who offered their help, putting up $100,000 to help Atozy fight the case.
With Mengshoel raising as much, if not more, from the broader crypto community, and with public opinion turning against Armstrong, it was clear that the goals of the lawsuit could not be met. Armstrong then went on to say that if he had known the lawsuit would be made public, he never would have filed it.
“So we’re going to drop the lawsuit, 100%, and I’m sorry that this has been made public,” Armstrong said. “I’m sorry this was misunderstood, but I just want you to understand why I was doing this. This was not a lawsuit for horseplay.”
While there is no such thing as a “slapstick lawsuit,” at least not in legal parlance, it is likely that Armstrong was referring to the SLAPP lawsuit or Strategic Lawsuit against Public Participation.
A SLAPP lawsuit is a legal case brought to censor, intimidate, and silence a critic by burdening them with an expensive legal defense they cannot afford.
With Mengshoel suddenly demonstrably able to afford his legal defense, and with Armstrong immediately dropping the case, it is understandable that Armstrong felt the need to clarify this all-important point.
Clearing the BitBoy Name
Armstrong now aims to do the important job of cleaning up his tarnished image, which has taken a considerable beating since the lawsuit went public.
“I think I am probably the most misunderstood person in the entire crypto world,” Armstrong said. Regarding Pamp, the project that started the rage, Armstrong says that the smart contracts were changed after his review and promotion. He says that the group behind the project changed the code and lied to him.
“The next day after the rug pull, I think it was maybe November 16, something like that, the next day I made a video with a full statement about the situation, why this is bad, why are we sorry,” he says. Armstrong. “Technically I didn’t say I was sorry, but it was basically an apology,” he added.
Mengshoel is now awaiting official confirmation from his lawyer that the legal case has been dropped before reimbursing taxpayers. Armstrong has suggested that Cobie should donate her 100,000 pledge to charity.
By Audy Castaneda
