Based off these dark patterns, the penny pinching at Google is real. A company that is penny pinching -- both by spending less on employees, and nickeling/diming customers -- is a sure sign they're struggling to grow. When you to get to be Google's size, how do you continue the growth trajectory of your past? It gets harder and harder to do so. Their offers to engineers are less competitive, YouTube serves tons of ads, and Chrome is going to ban uBlock It's obvious where Google is at: strict monetization. They don't see any further growth, or they wouldn't be degrading their services.