Summary

Ripple files lawsuit against YouTube

On Tuesday, CEO of Ripple, Brad Garlinghose, and Ripple sued YouTube for the large number of crypto scams taking place on the platform.

The suit, filed in San Francisco federal court, claims that YouTube’s incompetency has damaged Ripple’s public image.

The complaint also motions to forbid YouTube from profiting from these scams as they are allowing monetization and not removing bad actors from the platform.

The Scam

Although there are many types of cryptocurrency scams, give away scams are one of the most common due to how easy they are to implement.

This fraud—often and dubiously named “the XRP1 Giveaway” (the “Scam”)—is a third- party attack on Ripple’s brand, Mr. Garlinghouse’s reputation, and XRP holders worldwide. To be sure,the Scam—a pervasive and extended course of conduct detailed in the allegations that follow—oftenrelies upon spear phishing attacks, hacked YouTube accounts, and the misappropriation of Mr.Garlinghouse’s likeness and Ripple marks. But it also depends on, and thrives because of, YouTube’s complacency and unwillingness to take seriously Ripple’s repeated demands for action Suit

With many victims falling to the “giveaway” scam, Ripple’s reputation declines as many associate XRP giveaway scams with Ripple themselves.

Second, YouTube has expressly (but falsely) validated the Scam as legitimate. By awarding a “verification badge” to a hacked channel that was impersonating Plaintiffs in furtherance of the Scam, YouTube communicated to hundreds of thousands of viewers and subscribers that the hacked account was “the official channel of a creator, artist, company, or public figure.” This was completely false and profoundly harmful Suit

Giveaway scams work by asking victims to give x amount of XRP, and they promise to return 100x back in minutes. Many victims unknowingly fall for this scheme, despite its shadiness.

Ripple claims that YouTube verified the scammers, effectively adding an additional factor of trust making the scam more believable.

To date, Plaintiffs believe and allege that the Scam has defrauded victims out of millions of XRP valued at hundreds of thousands of dollars Suit

Furthermore, Ripple claims that scammers have made millions of XRP from these scams as YouTube failed to ban scammers. As a result, Ripple’s reputation along with CEO Brad Garlinghose has taken a hit.

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