YouTube on the dock in the Bitconnect case
Shortly after our article announcing the death of the scam Bitconnect , the largest Ponzi pyramid known to cryptos (so far!) Was entitled to a "class action" from several investors , injured by the scam, filed on January 24th.
Bitconnect: A Ponzi Pyramid School Case
As part of the investigation against Bitconnect , influencers and youtubeurs as Trevon James were questioned by the authorities , for their contribution to the euphoria that led to the disaster we know . But here it is CoinTelegraph that reports that a judicial document , published this Tuesday, July 3, added YouTube in the camp of the defendants in the class action against Bitconnect. The original 6 depositors of the complaint stated that their personal losses amounted to $ 771,000 (nearly € 660,000) .
As in any Ponzi scheme, Bitconnect used the funds received from new investors to pay them to existing investors , and so on, until there are not enough newcomers and the pyramid formed collapses on itself, ruining the last arrivals. YouTube is here accused by this court document of not having deleted and demonetized the published videos , in particular by Bitconnect and its main affiliates, which exposed the numerous users of YouTube to this fraudulent investment and illegally promoted .
According to CoinTelegraph the top ten affiliates of Bitconnect on YouTube have published more than 70 000 hours of content, which generated 58 million views! This is despite the fact that a number of users have reported to YouTube a fraudulent Bitconnect activity.
Where is YouTube's responsibility?
CoinTelegraph journalists had an email exchange with David Silver of the Silver Miller law firm, representing the plaintiffs defrauded by Bitconnect. In this exchange, the lawyer explains that:
"This case does not concern YouTube as a media or publisher of the content on its website. On the other hand, its responsibility is based on the fact that YouTube has failed to act, having learned from the content directly published on YouTube, the easily predictable damage caused by its advertising partners ... " .
Indeed, according to the complainants, if YouTube had done an appropriate search on its databases, it would have removed the harmful videos from Bitconnect, instead of accepting a growing number of videos fueling and swelling the Ponzi scheme . The judicial document concludes by stating that:
"YouTube has failed as a guardian to protect its users, and warn its users, of the harm that YouTube has tried to prevent with its advertising protocols and proprietary algorithms . "
It's true that YouTube is quick to remove politicized content that does not suit its ideology, but when it comes to content that can yield, taking advantage of the buzz caused by the scam Bitconnect, the arbitrary efficiency is transformed leave it alone. Unfortunately we have not finished hearing about this Bitconnect case!