Apple Co-Founder Fires At YouTube for Their Inaction To address Bitcoin Scam

Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak is accusing Youtube of turning a blind eye to scammers who has been leveraging on the social media platform to perform Bitcoin scams.

Many of these Bitcoin scams use Deepfake, imitating his likeness to execute their schemes, which Wozniak claims to have resulted in victims losing their life savings.

"Some people said they lost their life savings. That's a crime. A good person, if you see a crime happening, you step in and try to stop it."

Wozniak revealed in a recent CBS News interview that, for years, scammers used doctored videos of him promoting an alleged Bitcoin giveaway, promising to double anyone’s crypto sent to their address.

The fraud went viral on YouTube, preying on unsuspecting viewers—including one who emailed Wozniak’s wife Janet seeking restitution.

Despite repeatedly flagging the scam, Wozniak claims that YouTube has seemingly ignored his warning and application to take down the videos.

This is not the first time Wozniak has clashed with the tech giant regarding this issue. Back in 2020, Wozniak filed another lawsuit against Youtube for its inaction to take down fraudulent advertisements which impersonated him on Youtube. The lawsuit is currently still ongoing.

Deepfake Technology Powers an Online Fraud Boom

Wozniak’s warning comes at a time where there is a surge in AI-generated deepfakes fueled crimes. In 2024 alone, $9.3 billion was lost to internet scams according to FBI reports.

Leading tech figures from Elon Musk to Jeff Bezos have similarly had their images hijacked amid widespread phishing attacks and fake investment schemes.

Critics charge that social media and video platforms like YouTube have failed to invest in the moderation, oversight, and rapid removal tools necessary to curb this wave of fraudulent content.

A recent Bitget Anti-Scam Report revealed that in 2024, deepfake impersonations accounted for 40% of high-value crypto frauds—a year in which the total value lost to cryptocurrency scams soared 24% to $4.6 billion.

The report highlighted how scammers now deploy advanced AI technology to manipulate trust, impersonate public figures, and run elaborate social engineering operations.

Calls Grow for Stricter Regulation of Online Advertising

Wozniak’s concerns are echoed in legislative circles. UK Liberal Democrat MP Max Wilkinson last week called for YouTube ads to be regulated with the same rigor as traditional television and radio.

“Regulations need to catch up with the reality of how people are watching content.”

Wilkinson further warned that unscrupulous advertisers must not be allowed to use loopholes to exploit people.

Google—YouTube’s parent company—claimed that it had removed over 5.1 billion ads and restricted another 9.1 billion in 2024, suspending more than 39 million advertiser accounts and blocking ads on 1.3 billion publisher pages for serious violations.

Still, critics insist that many harmful scams continue slipping through the cracks, and other major platforms like Meta and X face similar criticism for insufficient content policing.

As the crypto ecosystem and AI-powered scams grow ever more sophisticated, cases like Wozniak’s highlight urgent questions about the effectiveness of platform moderation and the responsibility tech giants have to protect users.

Without robust systems and stricter policies to combat deepfakes and online fraud, billions in personal wealth and consumer trust remain at risk.