WTF

Tens of thousands of people watched a fake broadcast of Appleʼs presentation. There was a link to a fraudulent crypto site

Author:
Anhelina Sheremet
Date:

During the presentation of new products from Apple, someone launched a parallel broadcast on YouTube with Tim Cook — to draw attention to fraud with cryptocurrency. Tens of thousands of people watched this broadcast.

This is reported by The Verge.

The fake live broadcast attracted attention by adding an array of Apple keywords to its description, but in fact the video was filled with strange messages with links to a suspicious crypto site.

There were many signs in the stream that it was fake. It had a strange name — “Apple Event Live. Apple CEO Tim Cook: Apple and the Metaverse in 2022,” and it featured an old CNN interview with Cook. The streamer added the Bitcoin and Ethereum logos to the video stream, covered the CNN Money logo with the text Apple Crypto Event 2022, and added the phrase "Breaking News" in bold below. However, the URL for the channel, which was called Apple LIVE, had nothing to do with Apple.

The maximum number of people who watched this stream is 70 thousand. YouTube did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Shortly after publication, the broadcast was removed for violating the terms.

The Verge also discovered a live broadcast on a separate (and also fragmented) channel that claimed to be Apple Inc. The stream was intended to be an event featuring Cook and Tesla CEO Elon Musk about Apple and the metaverse, but it was actually an interview about Bitcoin with Musk and the leader of cryptocurrency company Block, Jack Dorsey. This stream was watched by more than 10 thousand viewers, then it was also deleted.