YouTube Urges Court To Quash Cryptocurrency Scam Lawsuit, Citing Social Media Immunity

Alphabet Inc’s GOOGL GOOG video streaming service YouTube filed a motion this week to dismiss a lawsuit brought on by blockchain startup Ripple and its CEO Brad Garlinghouse, the Block reported.

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What Happened

The San Francisco-based startup and Garlinghouse had sued YouTube in April, complaining that the platform didn't stop scammers from posting videos related to a cryptocurrency giveaway scam that used the Ripple CEO’s likeness.

YouTube is citing Section 230 of the U.S. Communication Decency Act, which gives social media platforms immunity against content posted by third parties, the Block noted.

The Alphabet subsidiary, in its motion to dismiss, said it didn't "orchestrate or participate in that scam, and after being notified about fraudulent content posted by the hijacked accounts, YouTube removed it.”

President Donald Trump had signed an executive order in May, targetting social media networking, with regards to content posted on the platforms, after entering into a spat with Twitter over the moderation of his tweets.

Why It Matters

Apple Inc. AAPL co-founder Steve Wozniak, along with 17 others, also sued the Alphabet run streaming website for similar reasons on Wednesday.

The lawsuit claimed Microsoft Corporation MSFT co-founder Bill Gates and Tesla Inc TSLA CEO Elon Musk’s likeness had also been used by cryptocurrency scammers to defraud YouTube's audience.

Musk, Gates, and other high-profile users were also targetted in a similar cryptocurrency giveaway scam on Twitter Inc’s TWTR platform last week, except this time, their personal verified profiles were hijacked.