Technology

Otoh, you also have Odysee and PeerTube to move your own content to.

Came here to say this after giving it 24 hours in case it was just lucky timing

However, now if I try to watch a YT vid in Firefox, I get the "Oops something went wrong" right when the Ad should have popped up

Well the problem for google is that Youtube MUST be accessible to almost any internet user in the world - that's a key reason why it's so ubiquitous.

The reason this cat and mouse game has lasted as long as it has in the first place is because any method that is currently being quashed has a solution lying in another user agent that youtube can't kill.

If one day YT sets a "minimum requirements" page on their website to access their content, they've immediately ceded market share to the next upstart. Imagine if they broke viewing for all of the countless cheap (and e-waste) phones, tablets, low end IOT devices, "smart TVs", and so on because they place a requirement that the device cannot meet. Those users will not throw away their hardware - they'll migrate to the first available alternative way to watch content.

As long as YT caters to the lowest common denominator (Their business model essentially binds them to do so), there will always be a software/hardware environment that these tools can spoof. The moment that stops being the case, people look for other options.

A similar analogy would be how Microsoft handled the windows 11 requirements - the strict requirements locking out years upon years of hardware has resulted in a substantial amount of users finding workarounds for their machines (like windows 10 IOT LTSC), or to even jump to linux entirely. They abandoned the entry level users, so entry level users are abandoning them.

what is the endgame of this cat and mouse game?

Same as usual: the mouse loses unless it assembles and unionizes with other mouses and they bring in a guillotine.

Android is different because there are no alternatives to cellphones except Apple. On the web, there are other ways to share video. So Google can maybe lock YouTube down, but it can't lock you down.

Many of us use 3rd party browsers a stop-gap measure. We'd like to leave the platform entirely, but we are still interested in some of the content there, so we're OK with the cat-and-mouse game for now, knowing that if Google goes hardcore blocking mode that we will walk away and be better human beings for it.

They turn it into an app-only platform just like with many PRC-based apps. Literally, some of those platforms doesn't even have a web or desktop mode.

I tried using Baidu Maps web to look at my old neighborhood (I was born in mainland China) for nostalgia, and the site repeatedly automatically attempts to download the .apk like every tap I make on the site. Wtf lol. The site probably detected the useragent and keeps nagging me about their app.

I tried browsing a random popular online store to see what it's like for curiosity (天猫), but it asked for a sign in. Like wut? Even Amazon, Ebay, Bestbuy doesn't do that. PRC is actually just late stage cyberpunk capitalism.

This is gonna be the future for every big-corp stuff. App only, real ID and phone number verification required. Probably even scan your face.

We need a Meshtastic-based "internet" to actually decouple from big corps have control our infrastructure to have real freedom.

Someone give it to me straight, what is the endgame of this cat and mouse game?

A mandatory account with paid subscription.

I cancelled YT Premium after paying pretty much since Google Music was a thing. The price keeps going up ($14/month now here in the US), and Lite is meh even for the discounted price (e.g. no background play I think?).

They just keep building the wall higher and higher, while they survive only because creators keep filling it with content. Nobody is watching "YouTube Originals" or their first party content. YouTube exists solely because of third party creators.

Not only that but I can survive with Brave or Firefox with UBO or whatever. It's not that hard to avoid the ads, even if it's a little inconvenient vs being able to use the app.

My self hosted downloader similarly didn't skip a beat.

NewPipe as well, without any update either.