Brad Garlinghouse and Ripple settle lawsuit against YouTube

Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse said that he and the company have reached a settlement with YouTube over the lawsuit filed against the video-sharing platform in 2020.

Last year, @Ripple and I sued @YouTube for failing to enforce its own policies by allowing fake accounts (impersonating my/Ripple’s verified accounts) to conduct XRP giveaway scams. We’ve now come to a resolution to work together to prevent, detect and take down these scams. 1/3

— Brad Garlinghouse (@bgarlinghouse) March 9, 2021

The plaintiffs accused Google’s subsidiary of failing to act against scammers promoting fake XRP airdrops in their name.

“Due to YouTube’s deliberate and inexplicable refusal to combat widespread and harmful fraud on its platform, Ripple’s and Mr. Garlinghouse’s public image, brand, and reputation have suffered and continue to suffer irreparable damage,” the statement said.

The two sides have now agreed to collaborate to curb such scams, according to Ripple’s head.

He added that the company is using the XRP Forensics team to track crypto assets linked to fraud. But in his view, if social networks do not take a more active role in investigations, it will be like playing ‘Whack-a-Mole’.

“Social platforms are beginning to recognise their role in preventing crypto fraud and acknowledge the need to be part of the solution,” Garlinghouse noted.

According to Decrypt, the settlement includes joint funding by YouTube and Ripple for a non-profit organisation that assists victims of cybercrime.

Ripple declined to specify to the publication the forms and sizes of potential contributions from the companies, saying it would share details after the legal process concludes.

Earlier the XRP Forensics team calculated that duped users transferred to the organizers of the fake XRP airdrops on YouTube 1.543 million Ripple tokens (~$725,000 at the time of writing).

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