Google, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube are facing a class-action lawsuit for “cartel-like” behaviour intended to kill off crypto competition.

The social media and search giants are the target of a class-action lawsuit, led by Australian lawyer and CEO of JPB Liberty, Andrew Hamilton, which could be worth as much as $300 billion.

According to Cointelegraph, Hamilton believes the companies engaged in “cartel-like” behaviour in a coordinated effort to kill off the nascent virtual currency sector in 2018, by introducing blanket bans on the advertising and promotion of crypto assets and initial coin offerings (ICOs). 

Hamilton is convinced that, under Australian competition law, it will be “pretty easy” to prove the social and search behemoths were acting as a cartel, and has spent two-and-a-half years preparing the case against them. 

In addition to Hamilton’s time preparing the case, a “major law firm” has also contributed “hundreds of hours off the clock,” which he says is a sure sign they believe the case is winnable. 

Anyone holding cryptos or involved in crypto space can participate

JPB Liberty says anyone holding cryptocurrencies, or “involved in the Cryptocosm” can join the Class Action as a Class Member, on an anonymous, no win, no fee basis. The deadline for claimants to sign-up to the lawsuit is 21 August. If successful, claimants will receive 70% of any settlement, while the suit’s funders will get 30%. 

It seems only fitting that, in addition to seeking institutional litigation funding, JPB Liberty is also offering Web 3.0 Litigation Funding – which raises funding via a token sale. 25% of damages awarded by the Class Action will be paid to token holders, with 5% going to JBP, and the tokens will be listed on crypto exchanges to provide liquidity for token holders during the lengthy litigation process. 

The law firm also says it is investigating other potential Class Actions, including against banks with banned cryptocurrency purchases by credit cards, against banks which improperly froze customer accounts due to legitimate cryptocurrency transactions, and against regulators who exceeded their legal and constitutional authority in attempting to regulate crypto. 

AYO.NEWS says:

This is very interesting indeed. Though we’re sure the social media and search companies will argue they introduced the bans to “protect consumers” from being misled, it’s hard to believe that was the real reason for such sweeping action.

After all, at the same time as the companies were banning the promotion of crypto assets and ICOs, they were themselves working furiously on their own crypto projects! 

For example, though Twitter banned crypto advertising, Jack Dorsey’s own financial firm Square was allowed to promote its crypto-friendly Cash App. And, lets not forget, when Facebook banned all crypto promotion, it was hard at work on its own Libra project! 

Only yesterday we reported that Facebook has launched a dedicated fintech division, Facebook Financial, or ‘F2’, to promote “payments and commerce opportunities,” despite its Libra stablecoin project appearing to be dead in the water. 

‘AYO.NEWS says’ features the opinion of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of Pentagon Digital Limited or its affiliates or associates. 

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