- Cardano creator Charles Hoskinson could leave Twitter and other social media platforms if scams continue to be not thwarted by the platforms.
- IOG and Hoskinson are investigating the possibility of a lawsuit or class action lawsuit to hold Twitter and other social media platforms accountable for scams.
Charles Hoskinson, the CEO of IOG, has talked about scams and “blue checkmarks” in a new video. As the creator of Cardano (ADA) explained, “giveaway scams” emerged 4 to 5 years ago and have since then become a serious issue for the entire crypto scene. Scammers impersonate Hoskinson, Vitalik Buterin, Elon Musk, Adam Back or another well-known figures from the crypto space on social media platforms, such as YouTube or Twitter.
The scammers ask users to send crypto to a foreign address and promise them that they will receive a larger amount back. However, this transaction fails to materialize, while the gullible lose their funds. A lot of responsibility falls on the major social media platforms when, for example, a “fake Elon Musk” can get a blue checkmark, or a fake Daedalus wallet makes it to the Google Play Store. On Instagram, there is currently a Charles Hoskinson account with 12,000 followers.
Ultimately, the Twitter hack and subsequent giveaway scam involving the accounts of Joe Biden, Bill Gates, Barack Obama and others “on a national scale” showed that Twitter undeniably knew about the issue without taking action. Since Twitter, like other platforms, is doing nothing, the responsibility may lie with him, Hoskinson said. Via Twitter, he wrote to his 256,000 followers:
If there is no path to verification, then I’m considering leaving Twitter. It seems to be the only way to resolve the impersonation issues. I’m disappointed with @Twitter they just don’t seem to care about fraud, scams, and impersonation.
In addition, Hoskinson could also withdraw from all other social media platforms to expose scam:
Maybe the solution for me is to simply leave all social media to begin with. And then we can broadcast through our official accounts that every single Charles Hoskinson Facebook page, Instagram page, Twitter feed, YouTube channel is simply fake. Maybe that’s the solution that we’re forced to do – self de-platforming.
Is the Cardano inventor taking legal action like Ripple did before?
In the new video, Hoskinson also revealed that IOG is on the search for a new employee with a law enforcement background, a former FBI agent or a former law enforcement officer, who will be responsible only for detecting and preventing fraud on social media.
On the other hand, IOG is currently internally evaluating whether it makes sense to bring a lawsuit or class action against the social media platforms as a company or an entire industry. As Hoskinson elicited, Ripple and Steve Wozniak have had “huge success” with this.
If we can determine that these companies are profiting from scam through ad revenue, directly or indirectly – there’s definitely a torque there. And perhaps after a class action lawsuit, perhaps after an enormous negative press, they will take this issue seriously because I am tired of getting emails every single day from victims.
Blue Checkmark and Scams in the Cryptocurrency Space https://t.co/3HxqsuVi6B
— Charles Hoskinson (@IOHK_Charles) March 16, 2021