Music streaming
YouTube Music privacy rating
Music streaming service from Google, drawing on YouTube's catalog of songs, videos and live performances, with an ad-supported free tier and a paid Premium plan.
Summary
YouTube Music scores 29 out of 100 (grade F) on the music streaming criteria. It meets 2 of 9 criteria: transparency report and tells users about requests. It partly meets TLS configuration, security headers and modern web standards. It does not meet open source, no trackers or telemetry, no ads or data sales and independent audit. It is based in the United States: Five Eyes member; subject to the US CLOUD Act. Automated tests: SSL Labs grade B, Mozilla HTTP Observatory grade B and Internet.nl website score 73%.
Score 29 out of 100. How scoring works
Criteria
- No
-
No
No trackers or telemetry Weight 3 of 3
Are the website and apps free of third-party trackers, with any analytics anonymous and any telemetry off by default?
The Android app includes Firebase Analytics, and listening history is used for recommendations and ads unless turned off.
-
No
No ads or data sales Weight 2 of 3
Is the product funded without advertising, ad targeting or selling user data?
The free tier is funded by targeted advertising.
-
No
Independent audit Weight 2 of 3
Has an independent security or privacy audit been published within the last three years?
No independent audit is published.
-
Yes
Transparency report Weight 2 of 3
Does the provider regularly publish how many government and legal requests it receives and how it responds?
Google publishes government request counts and outcomes every six months.
-
Yes
Tells users about requests Weight 1 of 3
Does the provider promise to tell users about requests for their data, unless a court forbids it?
Google emails users before disclosing their data to government agencies, unless legally prohibited or in emergencies.
Automated tests
-
Partial
TLS configuration Weight 2 of 3
Does the website pass the Qualys SSL Labs test with a grade of A or better?
Grade B
-
Partial
Security headers Weight 1 of 3
Does the website pass the Mozilla HTTP Observatory test with a grade of A or better?
Grade B (75/100+)
-
Partial
Modern web standards Weight 1 of 3
Does the website score 90% or higher on the Internet.nl website test?
Score 73%