Many of you will know all about our #CryptoClassAction against the big Tech Goliaths, Facebook, Google and Twitter over their almost simultaneous banning of the entire Crypto industry from advertising on their platforms.
I've written a lot about Facebook's announcement of their own crypto currency, Libra last year. While this didn't actually change any of our legal work on the case, it certainly made Facebook's crime much easier to explain. In fact it was on the back of that Libra announcement that we got a couple of key pieces of positive press on BlockTV and elsewhere.
But recently, while helping @apshamilton with some background for his posts, I found a few tweets from Twitter CEO, Jack Dorsey, that cast Twitter's participation in the co-ordinated crypto advertising ban in a new light too.
The first one is recent and accompanied a fair bit of publicity for his other company, Square and its Cash App.
And that led me back in time to precisely the moment in January 2018 when the advertising bans on crypto first started. Imagine my surprise when I found this tweet from Jack.
Instant buying (and selling, if you don’t want to hodl) of Bitcoin is now available to most Cash App customers. We support Bitcoin because we see it as a long-term path towards greater financial access for all. This is a small step.
— jack (@jack) January 31, 2018
We also made this! https://t.co/z3u0liDNk4
Let's get this straight: Jack's company Twitter banned advertising of crypto currency related projects especially including exchanges and other businesses that wanted to help new users buy Bitcoin and other crypto assets. While another company of his entered this competitive market.
The price of Bitcoin, which was just hitting all time highs, immediately collapsed and kept on collapsing with severe drops coincident with each new announcement by Facebook, Google and Twitter. The Crypto Winter of 2018 had begun.
Meanwhile, all through this period, Jack's other company, Square and his Cash App were making out like bandits selling BTC!
While bitcoin volumes still pale in comparison to larger U.S. retail crypto exchanges, the surge in bitcoin demand at Square actually grew at a larger clip than Coinbase (~40% decline Q/Q), Gemini (~60% decline Q/Q), and Kraken (10% growth Q/Q) in Q4. This data is drawn from analysis by The Block using data from CryptoCompare as well.
Square volumes were more in line with Binance U.S. which saw ~$250 million worth of bitcoin volume in 4Q.
What a coincidence.... ban everyone else from advertising but of course Twitter aren't going to stop Jack tweeting. He did make multiple tweets about Cash app, most didn't directly mention Bitcoin or crypto, but the mere presence of crypto in an app during this time would be enough for Twitter to ban other people's applications from being advertised on Twitter.
As Andrew has pointed out, US anti-trust laws aren't well suited to policing issues of restriction of supply of a service like advertising, being more focused on price fixing. Australia's laws, however, are very different.
And that is why JPB Liberty is suing in Australia. Join the JPBLiberty Class Action law suit and help us deliver a huge blow for the decentralised web.
And if you think Jack isn't personally to blame... he says different. See you in court, Jack.
Fact check: there is someone ultimately accountable for our actions as a company, and that’s me. Please leave our employees out of this. We’ll continue to point out incorrect or disputed information about elections globally. And we will admit to and own any mistakes we make.
— jack (@jack) May 28, 2020
Great Spot Brian.
The evidence is building to an avalanche.
Ah, the hypocrisy of social media platforms and their agendas.
Just get rid of the competition, that won't backfire at all..
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