Privacy Policy

Last updated : 2026-11-17

WhoWatched is a multiplayer game: a YouTube video appears and players guess which of them liked it. This page explains which data the site uses, why, and how to delete it.

Data controller: Etienne Ange — contact: whowatchedgame@gmail.com.

YouTube API Services

WhoWatched uses YouTube API Services to read the list of videos you liked and disliked, and the list of channels you are subscribed to. By using the site, you agree to be bound by the YouTube Terms of Service. Data handled by Google is covered by the Google Privacy Policy.

Data we use

• Google profile: your first name and the address of your profile picture, to show you to other players. Your Google ID is never stored or displayed: it is turned into an anonymous identifier specific to this site. Your email address is not requested.
• Liked videos (youtube.readonly permission, read-only): the ID, title and channel name of at most your 200 most recently liked videos, plus the total number of videos you liked (to display it).
• Disliked videos (same permission): the ID, title and channel name of at most your 50 most recently disliked videos. They are only used for the “who disliked this video” rule.
• Subscriptions (same permission): the first 10 channels you are subscribed to, and for each one the ID, title and channel name of its latest video. They let you play even with no liked videos. Your list of subscriptions is neither stored nor shown: only these videos are.
• Public YouTube data about these videos: their view count, the subscriber count of their channels (50 channels at most) and the most popular comment of at most 4 liked videos. Nothing else is read from your YouTube account, and nothing is changed.
• Watch history (optional): if you import your Google Takeout file, it is read on your device; only the ID, title and channel of your 300 most recent videos, plus the total number of videos in your history (to display it), are sent to the site.
• Game data: rooms joined, votes and scores, for the duration of the game.
• Technical data: a session cookie, and server logs (IP address, date, requested page) kept for 30 days for security and troubleshooting.

What it is used for

Only to run the game: drawing videos from those of the players in a room and keeping score. During a game, the other players in your room see your first name, your picture and the videos drawn from your list (depending on the round: the full video, or only its title or thumbnail). When the goal is to guess who liked the video, or who disliked it, they learn at the end of the round that it is you. For the other rules (channel, title, thumbnail, view or subscriber count, comment), the titles, channel names, thumbnails and public figures of the videos in your list (likes, history, subscriptions) may be used as the question or as options, without saying they come from you. Only join a room with people you are happy to show your videos to.

Your data is not sold, not shared with third parties, not used for advertising or profiling, and not used to train AI models.

Access to your Google account

The access token issued by Google is used once, at sign-in, and is then revoked immediately. It is never stored and no long-lived access (refresh token) is requested: after sign-in, the site can no longer read anything from your account.

Retention and deletion

• Your video lists are erased automatically 12 hours after they were last imported.
• The “Sign out” button deletes them immediately.
• A room is deleted a few minutes after the last player leaves.
• The session cookie expires after 7 days.
• You can also revoke the permission given to WhoWatched from your Google account security settings.

For any deletion request or question, write to whowatchedgame@gmail.com.

Cookies

The site sets a single, strictly necessary cookie, ww_session: it keeps you signed in (first name, picture, anonymous identifier). There are no advertising cookies or trackers. Traffic is measured with plain anonymous counters (number of visits, sign-ins and games per day), with no cookie and no personal data. The video player is embedded in privacy-enhanced mode (youtube-nocookie.com); playing a video remains subject to Google's policies.

Hosting

The site is hosted on Google Cloud, in the European Union (Belgium).

Your rights

Under the GDPR, you can ask to access, correct or erase your data, and withdraw your consent at any time by writing to whowatchedgame@gmail.com. You can also lodge a complaint with your data protection authority. The site is intended for people old enough to have their own Google account.

Changes

This page will be updated before any change in how data is used (for example, if advertising is added).