YouTube’s algorithm appears to be serving up another Bitcoin scam. Crypto fraudsters have managed to infiltrate a number of social media platforms, with the world’s largest video-sharing site hosting giveaway scams and other fake investments.
The Crypto Lark, who hosts a popular YouTube channel covering the cryptosphere, posted a screenshot of the recommended scam video to his 41,000 followers. The livestream, which features Social Capital chief executive, billionaire investor and Bitcoin bull Chamath Palihapitiya, links to an alleged 5,000 BTC giveaway.
Top recommended video for me today is a #bitcoin scam!
This is getting so out of control on Youtube. pic.twitter.com/M1Oeur96GI— The Crypto Lark (@TheCryptoLark) May 18, 2020
Lark Davis, The Crypto Lark, is a Bitcoin educator who had his own channel targeted by YouTube during last year’s crypto purge when hundreds of videos related to Bitcoin were removed from the platform and crypto-centric channels were entirely deleted.
Meanwhile, global payments firm Ripple and its chief executive Brad Garlinghouse, filed a lawsuit against YouTube, claiming that the platform is not doing enough to stop bogus crypto scams they are having a negative impact on investors and entrepreneurs.
While several Bitcoin YouTubers had their channels subsequently reinstated, the Google-owned subsidiary says it has been working toward optimizing its algorithm to remove bad content and to stop the spread of misinformation.
Last month YouTube introduced a tool to help viewers determine whether questionable content is in fact misleading.
In April, YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki took aim at Covid-19, another hotspot topic that has spawned controversial content containing conflicting viewpoints, conspiracy theories and alleged cures.
Wojcicki announced that the company’s new Covid-19 policy subjects “anything that is medically unsubstantiated” to removal.
According to Wojcicki,
“Anything that would go against World Health Organization recommendations would be a violation of our policy.”
YouTube has since censored California emergency room doctors Dan Erickson and Artin Massihi, epidemiologist Knut Wittkowski, Plandemic filmmaker Mikki Willis and controversial virologist Judy Mikovits.
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