Google is rolling out some security updates that will affect some old YouTube and Google Drive links. Specifically, a large number of public Google Drive and YouTube links will stop working soon. As part of an effort to improve security, Google is changing how it handles link sharing across both services. While active users can opt out of the upcoming change, files that remain in inactive or unused Google accountsmay disappear.
Wondering why this is happening? Because shared links will soon be part of Google’s newest security-focused system. Starting July 23 , Unlisted YouTube videos uploaded before 2017 will be changed to “Private.” Unlisted is a video setting that allows users to upload a video that can be viewed and shared by anyone with the link to the video, but it doesn’t appear in search results or other tabs.
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The tech giant released a security update to the system in 2017 that created new YouTube Unlisted links with some security improvements, making the videos even harder to discover. Now, it's rolling out security updates to older Unlisted videos uploaded before that update. Instead of being open to everyone, shared private YouTube videos are now limited to a maximum of 50 people, and require a Google account to follow. See also: YouTube's big win in the EU over copyright
Google Drive links will also be part of this change, as announced on the official Google Workspace blog. Shared links will now have a resource key that determines which accounts will have access to the content. Those who already have access to old files will still have it, but anyone else will have to sign in to request access in order to view them.
Users who have files that will be affected by the change willreceive an email by July 26th, telling them exactly which links will be affected. If users do not want to receive the security update, they can opt out of it, as long as they do so before September 13th, 2021.Otherwise, all security updates will be applied automatically.
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If you're using a Google Workspace account managed by your employer, school, or other organization, things get a little more complicated. Your administrator or IT department can choose to opt out completely, apply the update to everyone without opting out, or apply the update and allow individual users to remove it from specific files.
