Tesla, Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) CEO Elon Musk decided to take aim at another tech giant on Tuesday, accusing Alphabet, Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) (NASDAQ:GOOGL)’s YouTube platform of hosting “nonstop scam ads.”
Musk also reposted a meme, originally shared by Sir Doge of the Coin (@dogeofficalceo), likening Youtube to Patrick, a character from the Spongebob SquarePant’s cartoon. The character is seen raging with the caption “YouTube when someone swears” and relaxed beside the phrase “YouTube when there are obvious scam ads all over their site.”
The tweets resulted in the hashtag “Buy YouTube” trending on Twitter.
Why It’s Important: It’s unlikely Musk will place a bid to purchase the online video sharing platform, considering he’s complaining that fraudulent advertisements are placed on its videos.
On Monday, Musk seemingly attempted to back out of his deal to buy Twitter, Inc (NYSE:TWTR), insisting the microblogging app has “refused to provide the information that Mr. Musk has repeatedly requested since May 9, 2022 to facilitate his evaluation of spam and fake accounts on the company’s platform.” In the letter sent to Twitter, Musk also alleged Twitter breached its obligations of the merger agreement, opening up a pathway for Musk to potentially pull out of the deal.
While tackling the spam bot accounts on Twitter was initially one of Musk’s goals after deciding to purchase the company, Twitter’s unwillingness to disclose what Musk considers the true number of bots on the site has become the sticking point.
See Also: Elon Musk Warns China On 'Population Collapse'
What’s Next: Whether or not Alphabet’s CEO Pichai Sundararajan will respond to Musk’s allegations against YouTube is not known, but according to the platform’s help section, “YouTube doesn’t allow spam, scams, or other deceptive practices that take advantage of the YouTube community. We also don’t allow content where the main purpose is to trick others into leaving YouTube for another site.
If Musk has found scam advertisements on YouTube he, like everyone else, can report violations of YouTube’s policies here.
