Controversies
Controversies tied to this brand in public sources. A listing is not a finding of fault.
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2026
Siddaramaiah files defamation suit against 42 media organisations and digital platforms over honey-trap videos
Lawsuit filed
Former Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah filed a defamation suit before the Bengaluru City Civil and Sessions Court against 42 defendants, including Freedom TV Kannada, the YouTube channel Karnataka Honey Trap, WhatsApp, YouTube LLC, Google India, Yahoo India and Facebook India. He seeks to restrain publication of two videos allegedly linking him to a honey-trap controversy and to have the content removed and access disabled. He contends the material lacks independently verifiable evidence, alleges the timing and commentary were intended to bring him into public disrepute, and categorically denies the insinuations as false and baseless. The judge reserved orders on the interim application on Monday (October 12, 2026), with the order to be pronounced on October 13, 2026.
Former Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has filed a defamation suit before the Bengaluru City Civil and Sessions Court against 42 defendants, including Freedom TV Kannada, the YouTube channel Karnataka Honey Trap, WhatsApp, YouTube LLC, Google India, Yahoo India and Facebook India, seeking to restrain publication of two videos allegedly linking him to a honey-trap controversy and to have the content removed and access disabled. He contends the material lacks independently verifiable evidence, alleges the timing and commentary were intended to bring him into public disrepute, and categorically denies the insinuations as false and baseless. The judge reserved orders on the interim application on Monday (October 12, 2026), with the order to be pronounced on October 13, 2026.
Stated objective. To restrain the defendants from broadcasting, publishing or sharing the two videos and related clips, screenshots, transcripts or reports, to have the videos removed, and to have the relevant digital platforms disable access to the content.
Source excerpt
Siddaramaiah has sought a permanent injunction restraining the defendants from broadcasting, publishing, sharing two videos and as well as clips, screenshots, transcripts or reports reproducing the allegations contained in the two videos
The suit has named 42 defendants, including Freedom TV Kannada, the YouTube channel Karnataka Honey Trap, several Kannada and English newspapers and television news channels, WhatsApp, YouTube LLC, Google India, Yahoo India and Facebook India
2022
Krafton sues over Free Fire distribution
Lawsuit filed
Krafton filed a lawsuit in the United States against Apple, Google and others concerning the distribution of Free Fire and Free Fire MAX. Krafton alleges the games infringe its copyrights and says it had asked Apple and Google to stop distributing and selling them; the article says the companies had not responded as far as was known.
Company response
Denial — Garena spokesperson
Garena’s spokesperson says to the lip Crafton’s allegations are unfounded.
Denial — Garena
A company spokesperson said, “Krafton’s claims are groundless.”
Source excerpt
The lawsuit also covers game maker Garena, as well as YouTube.
Crafton, publisher and developer of PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, has filed a lawsuit in the United States against Apple and Google, among others. The lawsuit revolves around Free Fire and Free Fire MAX, which Crafton says infringes the company’s copyrights and is on the app stores.
Garena’s spokesperson says to the lip Crafton’s allegations are unfounded.
2022
France fines Google and Facebook over cookie consent practices
Fine or penalty
France's CNIL fined Google €150 million and Facebook €60 million, determining that their sites did not make refusing cookies as easy as accepting them. Google said it would change its practices in accordance with the decision.
Company response
Remediation — Google
Source excerpt
France's National Commission for Information Technology and Freedom (CNIL) on Thursday hit Facebook and Google with €210 million ($237 million) in fines.
CNIL has determined that the sites facebook.com, google.fr and youtube.com do not allow users to refuse the use of cookies as simply as to accept them,
Facebook has received a €60-million fine.
2021
Public dislike-count removal controversy
The decision to hide public dislike totals was criticized by users, creators, and co-founder Jawed Karim, who argued that visible negative feedback helped communities identify misleading or low-quality material. YouTube defended the change as a measure against harassment, brigading, and coordinated attacks.
2021
YouTube removes video amid platform restrictions on Trump content after Capitol attack
Company response
After the Capitol attack, social media platforms restricted Donald Trump's content. Twitter locked his account and required removal of three tweets; Facebook removed his video and blocked him from posting for 24 hours; Instagram locked his account for the same period; and YouTube removed the video. The article also reported calls for the platforms to take stronger action over posts linked to violence and false election claims.
After the Capitol attack, Twitter locked Donald Trump's account and required removal of three tweets; Facebook removed his video and blocked him from posting for 24 hours, Instagram locked his account for the same period, and YouTube removed the video. The article also reported calls for the platforms to take stronger action over posts linked to violence and false election claims.
Source excerpt
Facebook and Google-owned YouTube pulled down the video.
Facebook also removed a video the president had posted for “ expressing support for the people causing the violence,” according to a note from Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg that was tweeted out by a New York Times reporter. Facebook also blocked the president from posting to his page for 24 hours, according to the Times. Facebook-owned Instagram also locked the president’s account for the same period of time.
Trump has been using Twitter and Facebook to push baseless claims about election fraud to his millions of followers.
2021
YouTube reinstates Right Wing Watch channel and apologizes
Company response
In a controversy involving YouTube, the platform reinstated the Right Wing Watch channel after the channel had been mistakenly suspended. YouTube also apologized for the suspension. The event concerns the temporary removal of the channel and its subsequent restoration, with the platform acknowledging the suspension as a mistake and issuing an apology.
YouTube reinstated the Right Wing Watch channel after it had been mistakenly suspended and apologized for the suspension.
Company response
Apology — YouTube
they quickly restored the account and apologized.
Source excerpt
YouTube reinstated the channel Right Wing Watch on Monday, saying it “mistakenly” suspended the account, which focuses on monitoring conservative groups and figures.
they quickly restored the account and apologized.
2021
Appeals court upholds dismissal of Pulse shooting lawsuit against social media companies
Ruling
A federal appeals court upheld the dismissal of a lawsuit that alleged Twitter, Google and Facebook should be held liable for the 2016 Pulse nightclub massacre. The court said the plaintiffs had not shown that the attack was international terrorism as defined by law. The ruling left the dismissal of the case against the social media companies in place.
A federal appeals court upheld dismissal of a lawsuit alleging Twitter, Google and Facebook should be held liable for the 2016 Pulse nightclub massacre. The court said plaintiffs had not shown the attack was international terrorism as defined by law.
Source excerpt
A federal appeals court Monday rejected a lawsuit alleging that Twitter, Google and Facebook should be held liable in the 2016 massacre at Orlando’s Pulse nightclub after Islamic State social-media posts radicalized shooter Omar Mateen.
A three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a district judge’s decision to dismiss the lawsuit, which was filed by victims and estates of victims in the shooting that killed 49 people and wounded dozens of others at the LGBT club.
The ruling focused heavily on whether the plaintiffs had proven that Twitter, Google-owned YouTube and Facebook “aided and abetted” Mateen in violation of a federal law known as the Anti-Terrorism Act. The court’s 31-page ruling said the plaintiffs did not show that the attack was an act of international terrorism as defined under the law.
2021
Lady Freethinker sues YouTube over animal-abuse videos
Lawsuit filed
Animal-rights charity Lady Freethinker filed a lawsuit against YouTube, claiming the platform failed in its duty to remove videos of animal abuse. YouTube said it prohibits such content, described policy changes and enforcement efforts, and said it had removed hundreds of thousands of videos and terminated thousands of channels that year.
Company response
Clarification — YouTube
We agree that content depicting violence or abuse toward animals has no place on YouTube
Remediation — YouTube
Our teams are working hard to quickly remove violative content and just this year alone, we've removed hundreds of thousands of videos and terminated thousands of channels for violating these policies
Source excerpt
We agree that content depicting violence or abuse toward animals has no place on YouTube,
An animal rights charity hit YouTube with a lawsuit on Monday, claiming the platform had failed in its duty to remove videos of animal abuse,
While we've always had strict policies prohibiting animal abuse content, earlier this year, we expanded our violent and graphic policy to more clearly prohibit content featuring deliberate physical suffering or harm to animals, including staged animal rescues.
2021
Steven Crowder files lawsuit against YouTube
Lawsuit filed
Steven Crowder said he filed legal notice of a lawsuit and sought an immediate injunction against YouTube after the platform gave his account a second hard strike. Crowder argued that the videos receiving strikes did not violate YouTube's policies.
Stated objective. to make sure our channel is still up
Source excerpt
"We have filed a legal notice of a lawsuit and an immediate injunction against YouTube," Crowder explained.
Recently, YouTube gave Crowder's account its second hard strike, meaning that the next one will result in a permanent ban.
And the reason we've filed an injunction for immediate relief, is to make sure our channel is still up, that we know what steps to take next.
2021
Google blocks hate-related terms from YouTube ad targeting
Company response
After The Markup reported that advertisers could use hate-related terms to find YouTube videos for ad placement, Google said it blocked terms associated with hate speech from being used as ad keywords and acknowledged that the identified terms should not have been searchable.
Company response
Remediation — Google
Google says it has blocked several terms associated with hate speech from being used as ad keywords on YouTube videos.
Source excerpt
The Markup found terms like ‘white power’ could be used to find videos for ad placement
Google says it has blocked several terms associated with hate speech from being used as ad keywords on YouTube videos.
Google offered advertisers hundreds of millions of choices for YouTube videos and channels related to White supremacist and other hate terms when we began our investigation, including “all lives matter”—a phrase frequently used as a dismissive rejoinder to Black Lives Matter—and “White lives matter”—which the Southern Poverty Law Center describes as both a neo-Nazi group and “a racist response to the civil rights movement Black Lives Matter.”
2021
YouTube faces criticism over Status Coup video removals
Public backlash
Status Coup co-founder Jordan Chariton and other journalists criticized YouTube after the platform removed reporting videos and warned the outlet that it could receive a strike and week-long ban if more videos were found. YouTube said the video was removed under its presidential election integrity policy and that Status Coup did not provide sufficient context.
Source excerpt
Jordan Chariton, the co-founder of Status Coup, took to Twitter on Thursday after facing yet another round of punishments from the Google-owned company.
YouTube spokesperson Ivy Choy told Fox News that the Status Coup video "was removed in accordance with our presidential election integrity policy, which prohibits content uploaded after last year’s safe harbor deadline that alleges widespread fraud or errors changed the outcome of the 2020 U.S. presidential election."
The YouTube spokesperson told Fox News that, unlike CNN, Status Coup "did not provide sufficient educational, documentary, scientific or artistic context."
2021
YouTube suspends Donald Trump’s channel
Company response
YouTube suspended Donald Trump’s channel after a video was found to violate its policies and receive a strike; the platform said the suspension would last at least seven days.
Source excerpt
“After review, and in light of concerns about the ongoing potential for violence, we removed new content uploaded to Donald J. Trump’s channel for violating our policies,” YouTube Insider explained via tweet.
The video-sharing platform based in California announced on Tuesday evening that it is suspending the POTUS’ channel because it violated some of the platform’s policies and earned a “strike.”
It now has its 1st strike and is temporarily prevented from uploading new content for a *minimum* of 7 days.
2021
Donald Trump files lawsuits against Facebook, Twitter and YouTube
Lawsuit filed
Donald Trump filed class-action complaints in federal court against Facebook, Twitter and Google's YouTube, alleging that the companies censored him and other conservatives and seeking reinstatement of accounts and other relief. The allegations are not presented as a court finding.
Source excerpt
In Tuesday's lawsuits, the former president accuses the companies of violating his First Amendment rights and of behaving like "state actors" rather than private companies in putting restrictions on what people can post.
Trump filed class action complaints in federal court in Florida, alleging the tech giants are censoring him and other conservatives — a long-running complaint on the right for which there is little evidence and that the companies deny.
2021
Trump files lawsuit against Facebook, Twitter and YouTube over account bans
Lawsuit filed
Former President Donald Trump filed a lawsuit against Facebook, Twitter and YouTube over their bans on his accounts, alleging that the companies violated his First Amendment right to free speech. The article reports the allegations and does not establish a court determination.
Source excerpt
Former President Trump is suing Facebook, Twitter and YouTube for banning his accounts, arguing in remarks on Wednesday that they have violated his First Amendment right to free speech in "illegal, unconstitutional censorship."
Mr Trump announced the action against Facebook, Twitter and Googleâs YouTube, along with the companiesâ chief executives, at a press conference in New Jersey on Wednesday.
He was joined by other plaintiffs in the suits, which were filed in federal court in Miami.
2020
Misinformation and moderation controversy
YouTube continued to face criticism that its recommendation and monetization systems could help circulate conspiracy theories, false claims, extremist material, and other harmful content. The company responded with removals, reduced recommendations, information panels, policy changes, and expanded enforcement, but disagreements over censorship and platform responsibility continued.
2020
Complaint filed against YouTube and Google over violent videos
Issue disclosure
Andy Parker and Georgetown University Law Center's Civil Rights Clinic filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission against YouTube and Google. The complaint alleged deceptive practices related to the platforms hosting violent murder videos and conspiracy theories that harass and target families.
Source excerpt
Parker along with Georgetown University Law Center’s Civil Rights Clinic filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission Thursday against YouTube and Google for deceptive practices on its platform.
2020
Ripple sued YouTube over scam impersonation accounts
Lawsuit filed
Ripple sued YouTube, alleging that the platform sold ads and verified accounts promoting fake cryptocurrency giveaways and ignored complaints about them. YouTube said it takes abuse seriously and acts quickly when it detects policy violations.
Stated objective. Ripple said it filed the suit to prompt industry-wide behavior change and set an expectation of accountability.
Source excerpt
In a complaint filed today, Ripple accused the video platform of selling ads and verifying accounts that promote fake cryptocurrency giveaways, then ignoring complaints about them.
Cryptocurrency company Ripple is suing YouTube for its “inexplicable failure” at stopping scammers from impersonating its CEO.
Among other things, Ripple accuses YouTube of contributory trademark infringement for ignoring complaints and continuing to accept money for the scammy ads.
2020
Lawsuit against YouTube over scam videos using plaintiffs' likenesses
Lawsuit filed
In a controversy involving YouTube, seventeen people, including Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, filed a lawsuit against the platform. The plaintiffs alleged that YouTube allowed scammers to use images and videos of them to solicit money. They sought the removal of the scam videos from the platform. The event was reported on July 26, 2020.
Company response
Remediation — YouTube
YouTube在提供给彭博的声明中指出，这些欺诈行为违反了其政策，该公司正在努力将其从平台中删除。
Source excerpt
YouTube在提供给彭博的声明中指出，这些欺诈行为违反了其政策，该公司正在努力将其从平台中删除。
站长之家(ChinaZ.com) 7月26日 消息:据The Verge报道，苹果创始人沃兹尼亚克等 17 人正在起诉YouTube，因为它允许诈骗者利用苹果联合创始人的图像和视频来诱骗人们汇款。
Steve Wozniak, Apple co-founder and tech entrepreneur, filed a lawsuit against Google on Wednesday over a YouTube scam that allegedly used his name and likeness to convince viewers to send cryptocurrency during a fake bitcoin giveaway event.
2020
Exposure of Instagram, TikTok and YouTube user data disclosed
Issue disclosure
Comparitech researchers disclosed an unsecured database containing records associated with 235 million Instagram, TikTok and YouTube users. The article says the evidence pointed to Deep Social and that Social Data later closed the database; it does not establish that the platforms caused the exposure.
Company response
Remediation — Social Data
几个小时候后，Social Data关闭了该数据库
Source excerpt
几个小时候后，Social Data关闭了该数据库，并否认自己和Deep Social之间有任何联系。
Comparitech的安全研究小组日前披露了一个不安全的数据库，导致2. 35 亿Instagram、TikTok和YouTube用户的资料泄露到网上
2020
Former YouTube moderator files lawsuit alleging employee-protection failures
Lawsuit filed
A former content moderator filed a lawsuit against YouTube alleging that the company failed to protect employees who reviewed violent videos. The suit further alleged that working conditions and the support provided to moderators contributed to harm. These are claims made in the lawsuit and have not been established as findings. The event concerns allegations raised in litigation rather than confirmed outcomes.
A former content moderator sued YouTube, alleging that it failed to protect employees who reviewed violent videos. The lawsuit also alleged that working conditions and support for moderators contributed to harm; these are claims in the suit, not established findings.
Source excerpt
In the lawsuit that was filed on Monday, the plaintiff, who is referred to as “Jane Doe” throughout the document, claimed that they were required to watch videos of murder, child rape, abortions and suicide, during their time working for YouTube.
A former content moderator for YouTube has sued the video-sharing platform, and accused it of failing to protect employees whose job it is to remove violent videos posted on the site.
“She has trouble sleeping and when she does sleep, she has horrific nightmares. She often lays awake at night trying to go to sleep, replaying videos that she has seen in her mind,” says the lawsuit, which was filed in a California superior court on Monday.