It was revealed that the FBI had requested Google to hand over the personal information of users who watched certain YouTube videos

Court documents, which were not made public at the time of writing, reveal that Google, as part of a large-scale criminal investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), revealed the IP addresses, names, addresses, and addresses of YouTube accounts that watched some YouTube videos. It was revealed that they were ordered to hand over personal information such as phone numbers and user activity.

If you watched certain YouTube videos, investigators demanded your data from Google | Mashable

https://mashable.com/article/google-ordered-to-hand-over-viewer-data-privacy-concerns

According to a report by Forbes , the FBI requested personal information from a user who played a YouTube video posted by an account with the username 'elonmuskwhm,' which was created as part of a sting operation by the FBI. The FBI reportedly sent the video to criminals involved in virtual currency laundering. According to Forbes, the FBI sent the video as a 'tutorial video on mapping using drones and augmented reality software' in a conversation with a Bitcoin trader. The video in question has been viewed more than 30,000 times, and is believed to have been viewed by thousands of users unrelated to the investigation.

Google, YouTube's parent company, appears to have been secretly ordered by the FBI to hand over the personal information of users who played the video between January 1 and 8, 2023. However, the court documents do not say whether Google has agreed to hand over users' personal information, and it remains unclear whether Google has agreed to hand over the personal information in the report.

Privacy experts argue that the requirement to hand over data is itself concerning. In response, the FBI asserts, ``This request is legally justified because the provision of identifying information about the perpetrator is important in connection with an ongoing criminal investigation.''

In addition, in the case of a bomb threat that occurred in New Hampshire in the United States, the police requested that user data be handed over to the bomb threat video that was being streamed live on YouTube. At this time, YouTube was ordered to provide 'information on the number of viewers at a specific timestamp of the live broadcast, etc.'

Matt Bryant, a Google spokesperson, said in a statement: 'We have implemented a rigorous system designed to meet the demands of all law enforcement agencies and protect the privacy and legal rights of our users while supporting their critical work. 'We consider each request for legal validity as case law evolves, and we oppose some requests outright. 'We regularly push back against inappropriate requests,' he told Forbes.

But privacy experts are concerned about the precedent the court order will create, saying, ``This is the latest example of a disturbing trend in which government agencies are increasingly turning search warrants into digital dragnets, which could be unconstitutional.'' And that's terrifying.'

Privacy advocates have also called for Google to be more transparent about its data-sharing policies, amid continued arrests of protesters and concerns about the increasing criminalization of abortion. I am.

In addition, Google updated its privacy policy in December 2023, allowing users to save their location information directly on their devices instead of in the cloud, and shortening the storage retention period. The new privacy policy also indirectly thwarts the investigative workarounds that law enforcement agencies have been using for years.