At the very least competition is needed.
YouTube is getting increasingly user-hostile with monetization with the huge increase in pre-roll and mid-roll ads, starting to lock resolutions above 1080p behind a paywall ( this was reported months ago but I've recently stumbled into my first two videos where 1080p60 and above was paywalled), and even getting aggressive on adblockers.
You can make the same comment between Facebook being 'easier" than Reddit. Or forums being easier than IRC.
A natural order is as user mass increases, ease of use improves. I think it's fine to acknowledge the challenges while continuing to spread the message and leveraging early adopter influence with folks comfortable doing some reading to understand vs a casual "mom" internet user that needs a very safe, templated app experience without many (or any) customization options.
In the workspace Slack is very big and is very analogous to a supremely polished IRC. Discord outside of professional workspaces is similar, though a bit more detached.
To me, these are the mass market evolutions of IRC from back in the day.