Wozniak YouTube Lawsuit

Wozniak is now suing YouTube on behalf of victims, but the case has been stalled for five years under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which shields platforms from liability for user-generated content.

Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak says he was made the unwitting face of a YouTube bitcoin scam — and fears the same system now fuels a global deepfake fraud wave targeting tech titans from Elon Musk to Jeff Bezos.

In an interview with CBS News, Wozniak said the fraudsters took an old video of him discussing bitcoin, then “put a nice frame around it with a Bitcoin address” promising to double any amount sent. “Of course it’s fraud,” he said.

The scam only came to light when his wife, Janet, got an email from a victim asking when they’d get their money back. “Some people said they lost their life savings,” Wozniak said. “That’s a crime. You know, a good person, if you see a crime happening, you step in and you do something about it. You try to stop it.”

But YouTube, he claims, didn’t act. “We never got to YouTube; our lawyer has gotten to their lawyer, that’s all,” he said, adding that Janet’s multiple takedown requests went unanswered. “They wouldn’t,” he added.

For Wozniak, the incident reflects how far the internet has drifted from its early ideals. “When the internet really began to be a public thing, it seemed to be there to democratise information,” he said. “Oh, I loved it for that! … And then came the social web and Google. Google had to make money. And the only way to make money is tracking you and selling it to advertisers.”

“There’s not enough real… muscle to fight” scams, he added, citing billions lost each year to cryptocurrency and AI fraud. And while Wozniak still calls Apple “the best,” he said when he speaks out about things he doesn’t like, “Nobody buys my voice.”