Oregon Man Threatens YouTube CEO, Employees: FBI

CAVE JUNCTION, OR — For threatening to kill YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki and commit a mass shooting at the YouTube facility in Mountain View, California, William Gregory Douglas of Cave Junction, Oregon, was arrested Thursday by Oregon FBI agents. Douglas is expected to appear before a federal magistrate judge in Jackson County, Oregon, on Monday.

Using his alleged online pseudonym, "LiamXmaiLRevolutionX," Douglas, 35, made video and written threats which he shared via his YouTube channel and his Twitter account, @liamXXmail. The threats reportedly began Aug. 23, after Douglas' YouTube channel was apparently shutdown.

In a series of expletive-laden and increasingly threatening Tweets, Douglas on Aug. 23:

• Wrote that he "would kill the 100 YouTube employees" if given the chance;
• Suggested YouTube expect "massive casualties";
• Told YouTube, "imfew hours away and ifyou are just going to ignore me try ignoring my gun you (expletive)";
• Said, "You Guys Are (expletive) Criminals … you want a bigger mass casualty aka shooting let's see what I can do";
• Said, "Return my channel you low life (expletive) before someone else comes and shoots more o fyour employees you (expletive)"; and finally,
• "@TemYouTube you took my channel @TrustedFlagger will no help please fix."

Working together to assess the threats, a Google investigator and FBI San Francisco Staff Operations Specialist by Aug. 28 determined Douglas' internet provider and narrowed his IP address to the Cave Junction area. After narrowing Douglas' location, investigators determined his identity and address.

A few days later, on Sept. 8, Douglas, using his LiamXmailRevolutionX account, posted a Tweet that said, "Hey why do you guys keep ignoring me would it be better if I leave you with no other options like your leaving me what your doing us ridiculous I'm beyond pissed at you @youtube so I wonder how I should deal with this frustration?"

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Following up on its investigation, Google provided the FBI with a summary of its findings. Among them, FBI Supervisory Special Agent Leland Castro noted that Douglas "provided long rants about the 'Deep State' and stated he has been 'shadow-banned' from YouTube, which he described as a government operation."

Additionally, Castro's note continued, "Douglas stated he is opening a shop on the Redwood Highway between Portland and San Francisco called Revolutionary Donut. On one video, dated September 8, 2018, he stated he has to go to Mountain View to 'visit' people at YouTube. Approximately 700 YouTube employs work at YouTube premises located in Mountain View, California."

A few days later, on Sept. 17, Douglas made another threat — this time aimed directly at Wojcicki: "Susan," Douglas allegedly wrote, "I'm coming for you today #pray."

Douglas was arrested three days later. He remains in Jackson County Jail.

Douglas' arrest and threats are considered all the more sinister and likely since the mass shooting at another California-based YouTube facility this past April, FBI documents show.

On April 3, Nasim Najafi Aghdam reportedly shot and injured three people at the San Bruno, California, YouTube headquarters. She later died by shooting herself, police said.

Court documents related to Douglas' arrest reportedly claim Aghdam was unhappy with YouTube's "policies and practices" before carrying out the mass shooting. According to Aghdam's father, who is cited in the document, Nasim was an active YouTube user who occasionally claimed her content was being blocked or filtered to reduce the revenues she received.

Images via Shutterstock, Jackson County Sheriff's Office