As of 2012, UK spy agency GCHQ was apparently collecting mass amounts of internet data in order to tell what people like on Facebook. In conjunction with Glenn Greenwald, NBC has released documents detailing how GCHQ collected data on YouTube video views, Facebook “Likes,” and visits to Blogspot, likely by tapping fiber optic cables.
The British government can tap into the cables carrying the world’s web traffic at will and spy on what people are doing on some of the world’s most popular social media sites, including YouTube, all without the knowledge or consent of the companies. Documents taken from the National Security Agency by Edward Snowden and obtained by NBC News detail how British cyber spies demonstrated a pilot program to their U.S. partners in 2012 in which they were able to monitor YouTube in real time and collect addresses from the billions of videos watched daily, as well as some user information, for analysis. At the time the documents were printed, they were also able to spy on Facebook and Twitter.