Supreme Court's YouTube channel hacked, videos promoting crypto posted

The Supreme Court's official YouTube channel showed videos promoting XRP, a cryptocurrency developed by a US-based company, instead of live court proceedings.

In Short

• Channel shows videos promoting cryptocurrency developed by Ripple Labs
• Supreme Court administration has started an enquiry
• Live-streaming of proceedings of constitution bench started in 2018

In a potential security breach, the Supreme Court's official YouTube channel was hacked on Friday. The channel showed videos promoting XRP, a cryptocurrency developed by US-based company Ripple Labs, instead of live court proceedings.

The YouTube channel showed a blank video with the title "Brad Garlinghouse: Ripple Responds To The SEC's $2 Billion Fine! XRP PRICE PREDICTION".

The Supreme Court administration has started an enquiry into the hacking of the channel, sources told Bar and Bench. The channel's link has been disabled by the Supreme Court registry.

This is the first time that the Supreme Court's YouTube channel has been hacked after the top court decided to live-stream proceedings of all constitution bench hearings in 2018.

Recently, the Supreme Court's hearings on the suo muto case on the rape and murder of a Kolkata trainee doctor at RG Kar Hospital were streamed live on YouTube.

In 2020, Ripple sued YouTube for failing to stop hackers from impersonating its CEO Brad Garlinghouse. The US firm runs an exchange network for the cryptocurrency XRP, which is aimed at people who want to send money internationally.