Bitcoin blogger in clash over deleted Twitter data | News
The podcaster accused of libel in the controversy over the identity of bitcoin’s inventor has denied destroying evidence in order to play down the influence of his Twitter feed.
Dr Craig Wright, an Australian computer scientist and businessman based in the UK, is suing Peter McCormack over tweets and coments in a YouTube video challenging Wright’s claim to be Satoshi Nakamoto, author of the seminal bitcoin white paper. Wright’s claim is contested on the ground that the words complained of did not cause ‘serious harm’ as required the Defamation Act 2013.
On the second day of a the trial McCormack was cross-examined on the influence his tweets and video appearance had in 2019. For Wright, Adam Wolanski QC challenged McCormack’s explanation of why some ‘analytics’ data on the contested tweets was not available.
McCormack denied installing tweet-deleting software as a result of the legal action and told the court he had not known that data would be deleted along with the tweets.
Wolanski asked: ‘The truth is you deliberately sought to destroy the analytics, is it not?’
‘No. I understand why you think that, but that’s not true.’
McCormack also challenged estimates of the impact of his tweets, based on their ‘likes’ and retweets, citing recent findings that 25% of Twitter users are ‘bots’. He also said he could not comment on whether his ‘engagement rate’ of 3% was exceptionally high.
Rebutting the assertion that his Twitter feed was taken seriously in the cryptocurrency world, he said his posts were mainly satirical. ‘I routinely laugh at Tottenham Hotspur. I’m known as someone not to take seriously’.
Wolanski also challenged McCormack’s statement that he was a journalist of ‘limited financial means’, noting that he had boasted of ordering a $200,000 car. That was paid for with a loan which was costing him £1,000 a month, McCormack said.
‘More recently, you bought a football club,’ Wolanski continued. ‘A journalist of limited means?’
That was a reference to Bedford FC, a club whose games attract ‘about 20 people’, McCormack retorted. ‘I didn’t pay anything… no financial attractions were involved.’
McCormack also insisted he did not know that one of the allegedly defamatory publications the claim – an online interview with podcaster Hotep Jesus, would be posted indefinitely on YouTube rather than as a one-off podcast.
The hearing is expected to conclude today.
