YouTube has suspended the account of David Schwartz, the Chief Technology Officer at Ripple, which would bar him from accessing, possessing, or creating any other account. David Schwartz tweeted that “weirdly, YouTube just decided to suspend my channel for impersonation. I wonder who they think I was impersonating, he added. Ripple CTO also mentioned that he had been prohibited from accessing, possessing, or creating any other YouTube accounts.
Ripple and Brad Garlinghouse are suing YouTube.
Ripple and its CEO Brad Garlinghouse filed a lawsuit against the video-sharing giant YouTube. The CEO complained that despite several appeals, YouTube had not taken heed of their calls and had instead allowed scammers, and impersonators to flourish, consequently taking advantage of XRP investors and stealing millions worth of coins. Brad Garlinghouse tweeted that they are taking legal action against the video-sharing platform because their platform is the epicenter for imposter scams, and the platform done next to nothing in response to Ripple’s constant takedown requests.
Brad Garlinghouse calls for accountability.
Weirdly, @YouTube just decided to suspend my channel (SJoelKatz) for impersonation. I wonder who they think I was impersonating.
— David Schwartz (@JoelKatz) April 29, 2020
Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse called YouTube’s inexplicable failure at stopping scammers from impersonating him, yet they continue to sell adverts and verify accounts that promote fake cryptocurrency giveaways while at the same time ignoring complaints against such accounts, he further complained. Garlinghouse called for accountability and change in the ecosystem. He added that YouTube’s inertia is indicative of an industry-wide problem of a lack of accountability.
Ironically, YouTube is also facing criticism for censoring genuine crypto content on its platform. The video-sharing platform has been terminating crypto content creators left and right from the last few months. Several crypto content creators got their channels reinstated, but they still fear YouTube censoring their channels. Crypto leaders like Justin Sun and Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao also criticized the centralized nature of the video-sharing platform and called for decentralized platforms. YouTube has even suspended educational channels that were not involved in trading or promoting giveaways of any form.
