Steve Wozniak can’t sue YouTube over Bitcoin scam videos, rules US court

Steve Wozniak

Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak has lost his lawsuit against YouTube over Bitcoin giveaway scam videos that are using his name and image.

According to a ruling by the California Superior Court of Santa Clara County in the United States, YouTube and its parent company Google are protected by federal law that shields internet platforms from responsibility for content posted by users.

Scammers have been using the video-sharing platform to post videos claiming that famous personalities such as Wozniak, Tesla CEO Elon Musk, and Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos are giving away Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies.

The scam videos showed Wozniak as the host of a live giveaway promising that those who send Bitcoins would get them doubled.

Wozniak had sued YouTube and Google in July 2020. They argued that Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act should not apply to their case because YouTube not only failed to remove the videos but also “materially contributed” to the scam.

In the lawsuit, Wozniak argued that YouTube had profited from the scam by selling targeted advertisements, driving traffic to the videos after falsely verifying the scammers’ YouTube channels.

According to a report by Bloomberg, the judge said those factors were not enough to overcome the immunity provided by Section 230 of the law. However, the court gave Wozniak 30 days to revise his complaint.

Read | Cryptocurrency Prices on June 4: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Dogecoin and more