US federal authorities asked Google for the names, addresses, phone numbers and activity of users of accounts who viewed certain YouTube videos between January 1 and January 8, 2023, according to unsealed court documents seen by Forbes. People who watched those videos while not logged into an account weren't safe either, because the government also requested their IP addresses. Investigators reportedly ordered Google to hand over the information as part of an investigation into someone using the name “elonmuskwhm” online.
Authorities suspect that elonmuskwhm is selling bitcoins for cash and therefore violating money laundering laws, as well as running an unlicensed money transmission business. Undercover agents reportedly sent suspects links to YouTube tutorial videos for drone mapping and augmented reality software in their conversations in early January. Those videos, however, were not private and had been viewed collectively more than 30,000 times, meaning the government was potentially asking Google for private information about a fairly large number of users. “There is reason to believe that these records would be relevant and material to an ongoing criminal investigation, including by providing identifying information about the perpetrators,” authorities reportedly told the company.
Based on the documents Forbes As I had seen, the court accepted the order but asked Google to keep it secret. It is also unclear whether Google provided the data that authorities requested. In another incident, authorities asked the company for a list of accounts that “viewed and/or interacted” with eight YouTube live streams. Officers requested that information after learning they were being watched across a creek while searching an area following a report that an explosive had been placed inside a trash can. One of those live video streams was posted by the Boston and Maine Live account, which has more than 130,000 subscribers.
A Google spokesperson said Forbes that the company follows a “rigorous process” to protect the privacy of its users. But critics and privacy advocates are still concerned that government agencies are going overboard and using their power to obtain sensitive information about people who simply watched specific YouTube videos and are in no way doing anything illegal.
“What we see online can reveal deeply sensitive information about us: our politics, our passions, our religious beliefs and much more,” said John Davisson, senior attorney at the Electronic Privacy Information Center. Forbes. “It is fair to expect that authorities will not have access to that information without probable cause. This order turns that assumption on its head.”
