They are a company - their obligations to their customers begin and end with extraction of funds to disburse to their shareholders:-(.

Back in the early days when they were trying to ingratiate themselves to the public, they put on a good face - "don't be evil" and all, but the mask is off now. Even now, they still really truly are more ethical (or at least might be, maybe?) than some others, e.g. https://lemmy.world/post/11951288? (but that is not saying very much at all, to compare an evil corporation like Google to a full-on fairly criminal-like corporation that steals artists & other people's content against their will; and I only say "criminal-like" b/c the aging geriatrics in various governments around the world barely use computers much less understand its terminology such as "mobile device", so the existing legal structures remain mired half a century behind what is going on in today's actual world).

Also, I am weird - I will do things like pay for Netflix even though I haven't watched it in months, preferring the high seas that has more content that is no longer there:-P, b/c I want to support continued development of new content (though TV & movies are becoming a dated art form nowadays). That said, YouTube is a VERY different situation, b/c while they do have server costs and what-not, they also are one of the lowest (not THE lowest, but among them... iirc?) contributors back to the artists who actually make the stuff. So a better way would be to find artists that you like, and send them money directly where they would get 100% of the revenue.

Anyway, I like your post that shows that there is more than one reason to support such apps - not just b/c of the content but also more than that too.