At a Glance
- Google’s internal files show it markets school tech to secure lifelong customers.
- The same documents admit YouTube can be unsafe and distracting for students.
- Families, districts and attorneys general are suing Google and peers over harmful platforms.
Why it matters: Schools rely on Google products; the lawsuit could reshape how tech companies engage with education.
Google’s internal documents filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California reveal a dual strategy: the company promotes its school-ready tools as a path to lifelong customers while acknowledging that YouTube can pose safety risks for students.
Google’s Dual Narrative
In a 2018 presentation, a slide warned that the public sees YouTube as problematic because there is “No way to block unsafe content, comments, ads,” and that the company had no workable solution. The slide was updated in 2024 to add that some survey respondents blamed YouTube for keeping them awake at night, among other negative effects on their well-being.
At the same time, other internal slides describe how Google’s growing presence in schools-through Chromebooks, learning platforms and YouTube-helps the company build a “Pipeline of future users.” One November 2020 slide explicitly stated, “You get that loyalty early, and potentially for life.”
An undated deck even imagined a world where “Parents ask their children ‘Why aren’t you watching more YouTube?'” and where “School Administrators shift budgets from Textbooks to YouTube subscriptions.” These slides illustrate the company’s belief that early exposure leads to long-term revenue.
Court Documents Reveal Marketing Strategy
The heavily redacted files were filed by plaintiffs Tuesday as part of a lawsuit in which families, school districts and state attorneys general are suing Meta, ByteDance, Snap and Google. The suit claims the corporations marketed addictive and damaging social media to children.
Snap settled its portion of the suit this week on undisclosed terms, while the other companies move closer to trial over whether they were obligated to warn schools of their platforms’ negative effects or to implement more restrictions for young users.
Google did not answer questions from News Of Los Angeles about the purpose and audience of the internal documents. In an email, spokesperson Jack Malon said the “documents mischaracterize our work.” He added that while the company does not directly market YouTube to schools, “we have responded to meet the strong demand from educators for high-quality, curriculum-aligned content. Administrators maintain full control over platform usage and schools must obtain parental consent before granting access to students under 18.”
Education experts and parent advocates say the files expose the business motivations behind one of the biggest technology companies marketing its products to teachers and school administrators. “It just proves the kind of fear that we’ve all had,” said Jared Cooney Horvath, a cognitive neuroscientist and education consultant who recently wrote a book criticizing technology in schools. “These companies speak about learning, but to them, learning is just the cover they’re using for these practices of ‘How do we get customers now’ and ‘How do we keep them for life.'”
YouTube’s Safety Concerns
In a March 2025 deposition, YouTube’s global head of youth and learning, Kathryn Kurtz, said that teachers want to embed YouTube videos even if their school has decided to block access. She added that Google is trying to make it easier for teachers to use YouTube.
However, a Google presentation conceded that using YouTube for learning is hard because the platform is distracting and disorganized. It showed an example in which YouTube recommended “Will Ferrell Hilarious Acceptance Speech” from user “cocksandballs123” to someone who had searched for content about “linear equations.”
Justin Reich, an associate professor of digital media at MIT, said YouTube is caught between tailoring its product to schools and appealing to a vast global audience. “There’s no capitalist way to win by making your product less engaging,” he said.
Education Landscape
- Schools now account for 80% of all Chromebook purchases, according to market research firms.
- In 2017, Google reported that more than half of all American public school children use Google applications for classwork.
- By 2021, over 170 million students and teachers worldwide use Google’s products.
Schools use YouTube with varying restrictions. Some give students and teachers free rein, while others block it entirely. Teachers can embed YouTube videos in course content through Google’s specialized education platform.
Google requires students to have parental permission to access YouTube on school devices. The company argues that YouTube can’t be that much of a problem for the school districts suing because they still use it to communicate with families and allow students and teachers to use it on campus.
Legal Battle
Hundreds of school districts joined the litigation, but a judge chose six last year to proceed to trial first. A Kentucky district will be the first school system to go to trial in June.
The companies argue that the plaintiffs inaccurately describe their products, blame them for harm they did not cause, and incorrectly seek to hold them accountable for user-generated content, which they are protected against under Section 230.
The lawsuit is part of a broader scrutiny of tech giants over the impact of social media on children. The two largest teachers unions, the American Library Association and 14 education trade groups, wrote a letter defending education technology and urging lawmakers not to restrict students’ access or screen time.
Stacy Hawthorne, board chair of the Consortium for School Networking, said there’s a big chasm between “Social media is bad for kids” and “We need to pull computers out of schools.”
Industry Reactions
Sarah Gardner, CEO of Heat Initiative, a parent activist group critical of social media platforms, found the newly released Google files alarming. She wants schools and political leaders to put more guardrails on technology in classrooms.
“These documents confirm that suspicion that there are ulterior motives to companies pushing technology into classrooms,” Gardner said. “And so we need to be asking why we’re letting them do that.”
Google’s spokesperson said the documents mischaracterize the company’s work. The court filings also show that the company has not measured the effectiveness of YouTube to improve students’ learning and does not have data to show its content boosted grades, graduation rates or test scores.
The internal Google documents were made public several days after a U.S. Senate hearing on concerns about the overuse of technology in public schools. The hearing highlighted the need for clearer guidelines on how digital tools affect learning outcomes.
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Key Takeaways
- Google’s internal slides reveal a marketing strategy aimed at securing lifelong customers through school tech.
- The same documents admit YouTube can be unsafe and distracting for students.
- Families, districts and attorneys general are suing Google and other tech giants over harmful platforms.
- The lawsuit could reshape how tech companies engage with education and may lead to stricter regulations.
