California biz magazine accuses ex-employee of deleting its YouTube account

Sacramento-based business magazine Comstock’s has accused former employee Matthew Keys, who once worked for Reuters, of deleting its YouTube account and videos, reports Sam Stanton of the Sacramento Bee.

Stanton writes, “Keys, whose supervised release by probation was to expire April 29, worked at the business magazine as its digital editor from May 2019 until he quit last January in a dispute with management.

“Following a Feb. 24 complaint filed with the U.S. Attorney’s office by Comstock’s Executive Editor Tom Couzens, probation officers went to Keys’ home on March 11 and seized 18 devices that were sent to a cybercrime lab for analysis, court papers say.

“Court documents say a forensic computer report determined Keys’ iPhone and MacBook Pro were used to enter a Comstock’s YouTube account on Feb. 10 at 2:09:14 a.m.

“‘Approximately 17 seconds later, the user performed a Google search of ‘how to delete YouTube channel,’’ court papers say. ‘The report reflects that approximately 20 seconds later, the user was once again signed into a YouTube account, accessed the ‘Manage your YouTube content’ at 2:10:56 a.m.

“‘At 2:11:26 a.m., the URL for website contained text string, ‘youtubeoptions/deletesuccess.’”

Read more here.