It's completely fair that your view on the pricing is different than mine.

Complete transparency, I do play their ads sometimes. I only refuse if I'm watching on my phone directly, but I cast from the official app. And I will have YouTube playing when I'm eating or playing a game on the steam deck.

The thing people should be referring to instead of it being a racket is that YouTube has a stranglehold on creators. I can watch streaming vids on another service, but if I want to consume content from small creators, I have to use YouTube. There isn't a real option for alternatives.

So, I do provide the platform with some money. Then I pay creators in a way where they get a higher dollar amount than YouTube would give them.