YouTube and Ripple teamed up to settle lawsuit and fund Cybercrime Non-Profit.
The case of Ripple against YouTube about crypto scammers that impersonate CEO Brad Garlinghouse has been settled quietly, and will involve charitable donations by both.
Brad Garlinghouse, the CEO of Ripple, tweeted last Tuesday that he and the company have finally settled a lawsuit that they filed against YouTube pertaining to several videos where scammers uploaded clips of Garlinghouse promoting different crypto hustles.
The anomaly of scammers using social media to hijack the names and images of prominent executives had been pervasive not only in the crypto world, but in the business world in general. Impostors have also sought to impersonate high profile CEOs like Elon Musk and Richard Branson on social media to rip off the public.
Last April, Ripple and Garlinghouse filed the lawsuit against YouTube, claiming the Google-owned company turned a blind eye to the problem, and even benefited from it by allowing the scammers purchase keywords to help them target crypto enthusiasts.
In a series of tweets, Garlinghouse stated that the settlement will result in Ripple and YouTube working together “to prevent, detect and take down the scams.” He also noted that the company had been using a forensics company to track stolen funds related to the scams, and then added that social media companies needed to do more or “it’s still just whack-a-mole.”
Garlinghouse also shared that the legal settlement will involve YouTube and Ripple funding a non-profit together dedicated to helping the victims of cybercrime.
Ripple however declined to provide additional details, like how much the companies will contribute and if the fund will provide cash compensation. The company stated that it will share more information once the legal work is finalized.
Garlinghouse expressed frustration with social media companies, claiming that they are highly profitable and can afford to do more to secure their platforms and kick out the impostors. He then described an incident where he personally reported a fake Brad Garlinghouse account to Instagram, only to be told that Instagram decided the account was not impersonating him. Garlinghouse continued that he also received violent threats from those who had been fleeced in crypto scams, and believed that he had been involved.
“I’ve been in Silicon Valley for 24 years. All of the major tech platforms need to take ownership of not only the good they’re doing, but how they are being abused,” he said, emphasizing that he devoted quality resources to policing bad actors when he was a senior executive at Yahoo.
Garlinghouse also stated that he is open to calls for reforming Section 230, a powerful law that is protecting tech companies from being liable for the behavior of their users.
The settlement in the YouTube lawsuit came after a judge threw out an earlier version of Ripple’s lawsuit, referring to Section 230. With that ruling, the judge described how the scammers had taken over YouTube channels and populated them with a fake Ripple content, noting that, “In some ways, YouTube too is a victim of the hijacking.”
Google hasn’t made a comment about the YouTube settlement.
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