Nearly two weeks prior, a third-party analytics platform called CStracker.gg launched a profile review feature with trust ratings designed to identify cheaters in Counter-Strike. The site analyzed millions of video recordings, inadvertently exposing public chat messages from players.
This functionality quickly became problematic, raising serious privacy issues. Worse still, it transformed into what players dubbed a "racism leaderboard," where individuals competed to post the most offensive and disruptive content in chat.
In response, Valve deployed a Counter-Strike 2 update on September 10 that encrypts chat messages, making it impossible for external websites to extract this data from video recordings.
The encryption applies to both global and team chat, but only affects matches played after the update. Messages from previously analyzed games remain publicly accessible on third-party servers beyond Valve's control. Players can request data removal directly from these websites, though the process may take time as these platforms aren't obligated to comply immediately.
Despite the limited scope, the update effectively shuts down the controversial leaderboards, which represents a meaningful victory for the community.
Beyond chat encryption, this update includes Cache map improvements: various gap fixes, a wallbang spot correction on B site, an additional competitive CT spawn point, and extra T spawn locations. The update also introduces game scripting enhancements, giving content creators better tools for developing new community features.
