In summary
- Ripple sued YouTube over a flurry of videos in which scammers pretended to be his CEO.
- The deal will cause companies to donate an undisclosed amount of money to a nonprofit organization.
Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse tweeted on Tuesday that he and the company resolved a lawsuit that they filed against YouTube over a flurry of videos in which scammers carry Garlinghouse clips to promote various cryptographic attacks.
The phenomenon of scammers who use social media to hijack the names and images of prominent executives has spread not only in the world of cryptocurrencies, but also in the world of business in general. The imposters also tried to impersonate high-profile CEOs like Elon Musk and Richard Branson on social media to deceive the public.
Ripple and Garlinghouse filed the lawsuit against YouTube last April, claiming that the Google-owned company turned a blind eye to the problem and even profited from it by allowing scammers to buy keywords to help them reach crypto enthusiasts. .
In a series of tweets, Garlinghouse said the deal would result in Ripple and YouTube working together “to prevent, detect and eliminate these scams”. He also noted that the company has been using a forensic company to track stolen funds related to the scams, but added that social media companies need to do more or “it’s still just a mole”.
In a telephone interview with Decrypt on Tuesday, Garlinghouse shared that the legal settlement will involve YouTube and Ripple funding a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping victims of cybercrime.
Ripple declined to provide further details, such as how much the companies will contribute and whether the fund would provide cash compensation. The company said it will share more information as soon as the legal work is completed.
Garlinghouse expressed frustration with social media companies in general, claiming that they are highly profitable and could afford to do more to police their platforms and expel impostors. He described an incident in which he personally reported a fake Brad Garlinghouse account to Instagram, only to be informed that Instagram decided that the account was not impersonating him. Garlinghouse added that he also received violent threats from people who were stolen in crypto fraud and who believed he was involved.
“I have been in Silicon Valley for 24 years. All major technology platforms need to take ownership not only of the good they are doing, but of how they are being abused,” he said, noting that he devoted considerable resources to policing bad actors. when he was a senior executive at Yahoo.
Garlinghouse also said he is open to requests for reform of Section 230, a powerful law that protects technology companies from being held responsible for their users’ behavior.
The settlement in the YouTube lawsuit came after a judge rejected an earlier version of the Ripple lawsuit, citing Section 230. In that decision, the judge described how the scammers hacked YouTube channels and filled them with fake Ripple content, noting that, “In some ways, [YouTube] he is also a victim of the kidnapping. “
Google did not respond to a request for comment on the YouTube agreement.