Google set the standard for free online videos. It's what they used to aggressively drive other competitors out of the market. Now they want to reap the "benefits" of market dominance.
Yeah, I had this discussion with someone recently. Companies of that size can drown out competition for years, decades even, by operating at a loss (or just not making much profit at all) because they have numerous revenue streams and the pre-existing highly-profitable sources can subsidize the not-so-profitable new one. Once you have a nice big customer base, tighten the screws and wring money out of the users now that they are captive. The rate at which that process occurs varies, but it's basically inevitable, especially for publicly-traded corps.
There are tons of Youtube competitors that you can use right now. You're not though, because Youtube is better.
Noone uses youtube because "it's better"(in what way even?). Everyone uses youtube because it's pretty much the only place for pre-filmed video content these days. If all content creators I watch moved to other sites, I would watch them there. I don't 'watch youtube', I watch people/channels that I follow. They've built a monopoly and now they're abusing it. I would gladly pay some low yearly subscription for Youtube without ads, but their current price is borderline insane, especially since most people won't use most of the features offered, all we want is an ad-free experience, I couldn't care less for Youtube Music. Until then, I will continue watching it via 3rd party sideloaded apps on my TV and with uBlock in web browser. Stop white-knighting corporations worth billions of dollars, they don't care for you as much as you care for them.
Yes, because they can afford to operate at a loss to starve out those competitors....