Published 13:11 IST, March 13th 2019
Man arrested for threatening violence at Google headquarters over his deleted YouTube account
A 33-year-old man named Kyle Long was arrested on Sunday after showing up at Google headquarters in Mountain View, California and threatening violence over his deleted YouTube account, BuzzFeed reports
A 33-year-old man named Kyle Long was arrested on Sunday for showing up at Google headquarters in Mountain View, California and threatening violence over his deleted YouTube account, BuzzFeed reports. Initially, Kyle was under the impression that YouTube had deleted his account and the only video he had uploaded but in reality, it was his wife Samantha Long who had deleted her husband's YouTube account.
Samantha feared how Kyle might react. So she told him that Google might have deleted his YouTube account.
"I just didn't tell him it was me taking it down because I didn't want him losing his shit in front of my kids. He was mad initially, but I said I didn't know what happened," Samantha told BuzzFeed.
As a result, Long drove over 3,300 miles from Maine with an intent to convince Google to restore his YouTube and pitch the content of the video directly to the company. Instead, Mountain View cops arrested Kyle on suspicion of making threats against Google.
Long's father told BuzzFeed that Long has a long history of mental health issues and he was obsessed with the video.
"He came up with this crazy idea to make everyone millionaires. He had good intentions — he wanted to solve world hunger and this and that. It was bizarre and crazy, and it wasn't going to happen," Long's father told BuzzFeed.
Google refused to comment.
However, this is not the first incident where a disgruntled user showed up at Google and threatened violence. Last year, 39-year-old San Diego resident Nasim Aghdam opened fire at YouTube headquarters in San Bruno. Aghdam, who claimed YouTube had unreasonably demonetised and censored her videos, injured three people and later killed herself.
Last month, YouTube has removed the channel of Austin Jones after he pleaded guilty earlier this week to persuading underage girls into sending sexually explicit videos. A 26-year-old YouTuber is famous for a cappella cover videos of pop songs.
Updated 13:18 IST, March 13th 2019