Steve Wozniak: “If YouTube had acted quickly to stop this … we wouldn’t be here now.”
James Martin / CNET
Steve Wozniak, co-founder and tech entrepreneur at Apple, filed a lawsuit against Google on Wednesday for a YouTube scam that allegedly used his name and likeness to convince viewers to send cryptocurrencies during a fake bitcoin gift event. The scammers apparently also used images and videos of other celebrities, including Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Microsoft founder Bill Gates.
The event persisted for many months and promised to return viewers double what they sent, according to the lawsuit. But when viewers transferred their cryptocurrency, nothing was returned. Wozniak filed the lawsuit with 17 other alleged victims, saying YouTube and Google repeatedly ignored requests to remove the scam video.
“If YouTube had acted quickly to stop this to a reasonable degree, we would not be here now,” Wozniak said in the complaint. “YouTube, like Google, seems to depend on algorithms and on no special effort that requires custom software quickly employed in these cases of criminal activity. If a crime is committed, it must be able to reach humans capable of stopping it.”
Joe Cotchett, one of the attorneys representing Wozniak, compared the event to the recent bitcoin scam on Twitter that targeted 130 high-profile accounts, including those of Gates, Musk, and former President of the United States, Barack Obama. . Cotchett said Twitter “quickly shut down the Bitcoin scam in one day,” while YouTube “allowed the Bitcoin scam to continue for months.”
YouTube declined to comment on the lawsuit, instead offering a general statement on how to address the issues. “We take abuse of our platform seriously and take prompt action when we detect violations of our policies, such as scams or impersonation, “a YouTube spokesperson said Thursday.
