Some YouTube employees, having access to hidden, private, or delayed videos, use this to their advantage and, in particular, publish information about game presentations or releases online before they officially take place.
According to Tom Henderson of Insider Gaming, Google and YouTube employees were responsible for the fact that a list of games from the presentation was leaked online ahead of the recent PlayStation State of Play. And unfortunately, this is not the only case.
A report from 404 Media (available only to paid subscribers) also says that Google confirmed in its own confidential documents that an employee was responsible for leaking information about a new game in Nintendo's Yoshi series in 2017.
However, it's not just about games. In 2022, the famous KSI blogger reported that the Amazon gift card codes he left for his viewers after losing a "you laughed, you lost" video were used before the video became publicly available.
YouTube employees who had access to the video before regular users activated gift cards worth more than $10,000. Anonymous sources told Henderson that further investigation into the situation led to the firing of certain people.
A similar investigation was also launched after the Grand Theft Auto VI trailer was posted online before its official YouTube premiere. However, in the end, aside from the possible dismissal of a few people, these investigations have had no real consequences, as the practice continues.