Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak files lawsuit against YouTube over bitcoin scam videos using his name as bait

Wozniak and 17 other victims filed a lawsuit against YouTube.

By Rohan Abraham, ET Bureau | Updated: Jul 24, 2020, 10.49 AM IST

In the lawsuit, Wozniak compared the efforts of YouTube and Twitter in combating misinformation and taking action against scams.

Apple cofounder Steve Wozniak filed a lawsuit against Google’s YouTube for the platform’s inaction over his requests to flag and take down surreptitious bitcoin giveaway videos that used his name as bait. In contrast, Twitter removed similar content after Wozniak and other technocrats like Elon Musk and Bill Gates had their accounts hacked last week.

Wozniak and 17 other victims filed a lawsuit against YouTube with the intention of getting the company to take down such content. They are also seeking punitive damages and compensation. The strategy used by YouTubers is similar to that adopted by the people behind the Twitter hack: they use Wozniak’s image to convince viewers that he would double the value of bitcoin sent to him. “When users transfer their cryptocurrency, in an irreversible transaction, they receive nothing back,” according to the lawsuit.

In the lawsuit, Wozniak compared the efforts of YouTube and Twitter in combating misinformation and taking action against scams. He said that Twitter acted “that same day” while YouTube was unresponsive. “YouTube has been unapologetically hosting, promoting, and directly profiting from similar scams,” he noted.

“This happened to Elon Musk and myself and others on YouTube recently. The reputation problem lies in the fact that after a while, many email us looking for their crypto-currency and [are] mad at us. The real problem is that there is no solid way to keep many such posts from showing up, even with obvious copyright infringement, via algorithms. And with such companies as YouTube (Google) and Twitter, good luck reaching a human,” Wozniak wrote.

In the past, YouTube has claimed immunity under the federal Communications Decency Act, which rules that providers and distribution channels cannot be held liable for content posted by users on their platforms.

A Sigh Of Relief: Apple iOS 13.3 Released, Reportedly Fixes The Most ‘Annoying’ Bugs

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Back when Apple announced iOS 13 at the last WWDC (Worldwide Developers Conference), probably no Apple user had expected so many bugs and issues to creep into their phones. Apple delivered most of the features it had promised with iOS 13.2 which was rolled out on October 30.

However, to fix the problems that users are facing, Apple has released iOS 13.3 to those who had signed up for beta testing. Reportedly, iOS 13.3 has fixed quite a few bugs, including the one which is being dubbed as the most ‘annoying’ problem till date.