Story title is clickbait. Read this (short) Wikipedia article to get a quick summary
tl;dr the privacy tool in question mixes cryptocurrency funds with other users funds and hence the US government alleged this was a money laundering service
How is that clickbait, that’s exactly what happened?
The title could have given more context. I’m not saying there is anything false or misleading, but as written the title is clickbait since you have to click through to get the key facts such as “Privacy app author convicted of facilitating money laundering for Samouri Wallet”
I agree that OP could have post a summary with the video, but clickbait would be “He built a privacy tool, and you won’t believe what happened next” or something that doesn’t inform of the content of the video. Here it’s pretty clear, he built a privacy tool and was arrested for it, all the info is contained in the title.
Click bait is anything that is designed to bait people into clicking a link. Virtually every headline and content title on the internet is click bait to some level.
Malicious click bait is when headlines either outright lie, or imply things that aren’t accurate to the content.
The phrasing of this title implies that the creation of a privacy tool is what the creator got arrested for, which is in fact inaccurate to the content, as the reason wasn’t creating the tool, the reason was using the tool for money laundering.
So imo it’s 100% fair to call this title malicious clickbait
The phrasing of this title implies that the creation of a privacy tool is what the creator got arrested for
That’s LITERALLY what happened.
No, he wasn’t accused of using it for money laundering at all, he was actually accused of “conspiracy” to money laundering, claiming that his tool facilitates it, HOWEVER, the prosecution itself knew their charges had absolutely no legal basis and kept it a secret, and when the defense made a motion to dismiss it was denied by the judge without even being heard and the judge gave no reason for it (I guess being on record that the trial is a farce wouldn’t look good). In front of an openly hostile judge and a trial that has no intention of following laws, legal costs in the millions piling up, he made a deal for 5 years in prison instead of the 25 they were going to give him.
Again, he wasn’t even charged with money laundering, he was arrested for creating a tool that can be used for that. The title is telling the truth - therefore, it’s not malicious.
