Chromebooks train schoolkids to be loyal customers, internal Google document suggests

Internal documents revealed arsenic portion of a kid information suit hint astatine Google’s scheme to “onboard kids” into its ecosystem by investing successful schools. In this November 2020 presentation, Google writes that getting kids into its ecosystem “leads to marque spot and loyalty complete their lifetime,” arsenic reported earlier by NBC News.

The heavily-redacted documents, which surfaced earlier this week, are linked to a monolithic lawsuit revenge by respective schoolhouse districts, families, and authorities attorneys general, accusing Google, Meta, ByteDance, and Snap of creating “addictive and dangerous” products that person harmed young users’ intelligence health. (Snap settled earlier this week).

Google has spent complete a decade investing successful products built for education, while establishing Chromebooks arsenic a schoolroom staple. The 2020 archive besides includes a study connected really the laptop brands utilized successful schools person an “influence connected acquisition patterns.”

Another descent successful the position highlights a 2017 communicative from The New York Times, bolding a quote that says Google is portion of a conflict to “hook students arsenic early customers.” This quote appears aggregate times successful the presentation: “If you get personification connected your operating strategy early, past you get that loyalty early, and perchance for life.” The archive besides suggests that YouTube successful schools could create a “pipeline of early users” and creators.

At the aforesaid time, other slides talk immoderate of the challenges associated pinch bringing YouTube to schools, including really the level is “often blocked” and really “efforts to make YouTube safe for schools person yet to work.” The documents besides admit the imaginable effect of YouTube connected intelligence health, pinch one 2024 presentation showing a descent that says “many regret clip mislaid erstwhile they unintentionally ‘go down the rabbit hole,’” aliases that YouTube “‘distracted’ them from activity aliases moreover getting to furniture connected time.”’

In an emailed connection to The Verge, Google spokesperson Jack Malon says the documents “mischaracterize” the company’s work. “YouTube does not marketplace straight to schools and we person responded to meet the beardown request from educators for high-quality, curriculum-aligned content,” Malon says. “Administrators support afloat power complete level usage and YouTube requires schools to get parental consent earlier granting entree to YouTube for students nether 18.”

Jury action for the societal media addiction proceedings will commencement connected January 27th, 2026.