A YouTube employee emailed colleagues in 2012 that the goal in creating a new app “is not viewership, it’s viewer addiction,” according to the internal message revealed in a personal injury case about social media addiction and children.
In a 2025 deposition of John Harding, the Vice President of Engineering for YouTube Music and YouTube Premium, lawyers representing more than 10,000 plaintiffs confronted Harding about the apparent admission.
"Goal is not viewership, it's viewer addiction,” an unnamed YouTube employee noted in the email to others. The note appeared to be part of a collection of thoughts from something called “iOS Creator App review.”
When asked if that meant YouTube intended to make the app addictive, Harding said he was unsure.
“The context of this document is about a video creation app, so that last sentence doesn't even make sense because the video creation app… wasn't even built for viewers, it was built for creators,” Harding replied.
Harding’s recently released deposition and the email are part of a consolidated case on the harms of social media. It is one of several major cases that are testing the strengths of potential litigation to hold social media companies liable. This case is separate from a recent landmark trial in California in which a jury found Meta and YouTube liable for designing their social media platform’s app to be addictive.
The emails were included in documents for the trials set for the Summer in federal court in Northern California. YouTube’s parent company, Google, Meta, Snap and TikTok are all listed as defendants.
It’s unclear if Harding elaborated on the email; much of his deposition in the federal personal injury case remains redacted. He did note, however, that he wasn’t sure if the video creation app was ever released.
The New York Post was the first to report on the document.
“These cherry-picked, decade-old excerpts mischaracterize our responsible product design work,” a spokesperson for Google said in a statement. “In fact, they prove our teams proactively identify challenges to ensure our products prioritize high-quality, age-appropriate experiences.”
More than 10,000 individuals have joined 40 state attorneys general and 800 school districts in filing lawsuits against major social media companies such as Snap Inc., TikTok Inc. and Alphabet Inc. The massive litigation is the result of consolidated cases across more than 20 federal court districts.
It is set to go to trial in July in Oakland, California.
Among other evidence used in the upcoming case are internal presentations from YouTube that show employees were aware that teens and young users were spending hours on its platform. YouTube has defended itself in court, arguing that it’s not a social media website but a video streaming platform
Another internal document from TikTok indicates the company was considering the pros and cons of implementing safety measures for users aged 13 and younger.
Last week’s landmark lawsuits set a precedent regarding social media platforms and their efforts to protect children from social media addiction and harmful mental health impacts.
The plaintiff in one of the cases, a 20-year-old known as KGM, was awarded $6 million in punitive and compensatory damages from Meta and YouTube. The jury determined Meta was 70 percent responsible for harm caused to the plaintiff, while YouTube was responsible for 30 percent.
Parents and advocacy groups who supported KGM praised the jury’s decision. Lawyers for KGM said the ruling meant that “accountability has arrived” for social media platforms that profited from children’s use.
Both tech companies, however, said they disagreed with the decision and plan to appeal.
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