Steve Wozniak, Apple Co-founder, lost his lawsuit against YouTube over videos that used his picture to promote a counterfeit bitcoin giveaway.
In July 2020, Steve Wozniak filed a lawsuit against Google’s YouTube for the platform’s indolence over his requests to flag and remove covert bitcoin giveaway videos that used his name as an inducement.
Wozniak and 17 other victims also sought penal damages and compensation. The approach used by YouTubers to Twitter hack, was they used Wozniak’s picture to assure onlookers that he would double the value of bitcoin sent to him. When users transfer their cryptocurrency, they are in an irreversible transaction receive nothing back. They sent an initial amount to a wallet address via QR code.
On the contrary, he said, Twitter responded “that same day” while YouTube was unresponsive. “YouTube has been unapologetically hosting, promoting, and directly profiting from similar scams.” Wozniak attempted to challenge Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act.
However, Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Sunil R. Kulkarni, who previously managed several Apple patent infringement cases, said YouTube had claimed immunity under the federal Communications Decency Act, which rules that providers and distribution channels cannot be held responsible for content posted by users on their platforms. Wozniak wrote,
The reputation problem lies in the fact that after a while, many emails us looking for their crypto-currency and [are] mad at us. The real problem is that there is no reliable 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.
Nevertheless, Wozniak is not the first businessperson to lose his battle against sham YouTube ads. The reputation of well-known entrepreneurs like Bill Gates, Elon Musk, and Michael Dell was also wrecked in these scams.