Deepfakes abound on Elon Musk’s X (formerly known as Twitter) and YouTube. Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse is criticizing these platforms for failing to address the mushrooming of sophisticated XRP scams preying on unwitting social media users.
Brad Garlinghouse Slams X And YouTube For Fake Free XRP ‘Airdrop’
His decry came in the wake of a particularly sophisticated deepfake video scam featuring a disturbingly realistic AI-generated Garlinghouse imposter purportedly promising XRP investors airdrops and doubling their deposits.
“I’m Brad Garlinghouse, and I have some important news for you…I’m ready to present you with an airdrop,” the digital doppelganger is seen saying. “Every XRP holder can participate and double their capital. We have allocated 100 million coins for this event. Scan the QR code on your screen. I would like to clarify that each XRP holder can participate only once. Hurry up and participate!”
Deepfakes are a form of manipulated media that can make anyone appear to be saying things they didn’t actually say — for instance, Brad Garlinghouse, who was depicted by a person digitally altered to resemble the CEO in the videos on X and YouTube. The deepfakes have become so realistic that distinguishing fabricated content from authentic media is increasingly challenging.
As such, the not-so-tech-savvy users and investors are at risk of being duped by scams promoting unrealistic returns on investment. According to popular podcaster Joe Weisenthal, the deepfake video was promoted as an ad on X.
Garlinghouse’s frustration with YouTube and other platforms stems from their failure to curb the dissemination of these deceptive videos despite Ripple’s efforts. The company took legal action against YouTube in April 2020, blaming the platform for the countless videos that used its logo and AI-generated Garlinghouse to promote scams that ask targets to send particular crypto wallets some XRP first for them to receive a bigger amount that, of course, never arrives.
It’s not clear when YouTube or X will take crypto scams seriously since they’ve become a menace. In the meantime, just know that anyone who’s promising to send you double cryptocurrency if you first send them some crypto assets is definitely running a scam.
Ripple’s Legal Head Slams SEC After Twitter Account Hack
Security challenges in the crypto space were recently exacerbated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) official social media account being “compromised” by hackers who posted a tweet falsely claiming that multiple spot Bitcoin ETFs had been given the green light.
Following a preliminary investigation into the hack, Twitter’s Safety team noted that the breach was due to an unknown party seizing a phone number associated with the SEC. Furthermore, the SEC’s account had not enabled two-factor authentication at the time of the hack.
Ripple’s CLO Stuart Alderoty lambasted the SEC, the most powerful investment regulator in the U.S., for not complying with its own rules concerning the disclosure of the nature and scope of cybersecurity incidents.