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.”
Using the ReVanced manager and microG you can patch a YouTube apk really easily to add things like ad block as well as the ability to block YouTube shorts popping up in your feed. It’s amazing. Highly recommend. It’s the only way I can enjoy YouTube on my phone any more.