I get that it started for free with less intrusive ads, but YouTube has had a huge impact on the way we all share and consume information. Understanding how much money it takes to run a service with the technology needed to provide high definition videos on a site that is up 99.9999999% of the time, I have no issue paying for a service that has changed my life in many positive ways. Now I do hate price gouging like everyone else, but it’s inescapable from gas & groceries to all streaming platforms.
So what should we do? Avoid all monetized information sources? I don’t pay for YT except with my time until I can skip an ad. But if you stop and think no information source is free. Libraries - over inflated taxes on an already middle to lower class that can’t afford the luxury tax breaks the ultra rich can buy, the internet - if it’s a free site then it’s selling your data skimmed from accessing the page. So what should we be supporting? Where should we be sharing and consuming knowledge in a 100% no cost to the user atmosphere?