Nate Armbruster
If your employer’s email account is set up via Google, then this TikToker’s warning may be something you want to hear.
According to her, “Whatever you put in that account—whether it’s emails, photos, Google Drive documents, or anything else—is not private.”
TikTok user @laurenselley went viral recently for a video with more than 55,000 views where she claims that “everything single thing that you have been doing in your Google account gets transferred to your boss or your replacement or whoever is taking over for you” in the event that you leave the company.
Basically what she’s saying is that anything within someone’s company’s Google account can be accessed by them. This includes everything from email drafts to Google Drive uploads and G-chats. In fact, they can access this information even if you still work there.
“I can get into any of it,” Lauren says. “Any of it!”
“Nothing is private,” she reiterates in the caption.
This may not be a big surprise for some Google users, but Google doesn’t hide this policy. A post on Google’s help site, confirms Lauren’s claims regarding administrator access.
“Your Google Workspace account can access the majority of Google products using the email address assigned to you by your administrator,” the policy states. “It’s important to note that your administrator has access to any data you store in this account, including your email.”
An article on Mashable describes a blog post by former Google employee Martin Shelton which goes into detail about how much access companies have.
“…Depending on the version of G Suite your company uses, your employer has access to practically every single thing you do on the platform,” the article says. The article goes on saying not only do they have “the ability to read your draft emails live,” but the policy also states they can access files you’ve uploaded when you’ve downloaded them and more.
Other TikTokers commented with their thoughts on it:
“That’s why the most I have looked up on a company computer that was not work-related is the weather,” one commenter claimed. “I have my phone for everything else.”
“I work for a European company and all devices and accounts get a full wipe on their last day,” another added. “Their privacy laws are so much stronger than ours!”
Another commenter joked about their activity while logged into the site.
“I look up The Great Resignation up a lot – just to keep them on their toes,” they said.
If this freaks you out, Lauren’s advice is to delete, delete, delete.
“To start, scrub your computer and email for anything you wouldn’t be comfortable with your boss reading,” she urged in a comment. “[And] delete the trash.”
See Lauren’s video for yourself here:
@laurenselley Reply to @mattflower nothing is private 😝 #projectmanager #projectmangaement #careertips #careeradvice #tech #softwaredevelopment #projectmanagertiktok
