With Reddit shutting down its API setting a precedent in the corporate tech world (and Reddit was a major outlier in that a ton of their users are technical minded and support third party clients, YouTube does not have that kind of userbase and will not get backlash for it), Twitter doing whatever the fuck they’re doing, and Google already hellbent on destroying ad blockers, the days of Newpipe, Invidious, and Freetube are numbered. Wouldn’t be surprised if they implement Netflix level DRM tomorrow that makes alt clients impossible. I say savour your alt clients while you can guys, you won’t be able to soon.
The vast majority of their userbase already puts up with it, so I doubt they will see any significant backlash. Even if all the FLOSS creators leave, they’re still a tiny minority because it’s “”“influencer”“” channels like the Pauls and content farms like Bright Side that are the real cash cows on the platform.
Also, a huge part of their userbase is children. Probably more than any other mainstream social media platform. They won’t even understand the concept of DRM or corporate bullshittery and will only use the YouTube app or browser anyway. Kids are also less likely to be bothered by ads, might not even understand what the purpose of an ad is, in fact they will just see them as more content which is why advertising to kids is so unreasonably effective.
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I wish you the best of luck! I’m on a similar journey to replace YouTube.
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This is why it is so super important to educate kids on media and tech literacy. They need to understand that YouTube is not the only source of videos, that you can not only buy your stuff on Amazon, and that Google is not the only place to search. They need to know that nothing is free, and that they are being monitored. And that there are choices.
I was super mad with our kid’s school, because they only allowed the kids to have Microsoft office. It’s not about the tools - they’ll change by the time they graduate - but about the results.