I don't know for sure, but I assume the people of Google like that there isn't much of an alternative to YT. Waging war on your users seem to be a bad way to keep your monopoly. I'd accept that the reason YouTube is adding more friction is because the revenueOfNewChanges() > currentRevenue(). To me, it seems that YouTube is in a "race to the bottom" to hit the dopamine receptor of the masses. It's why it's competing with TikTok.
If you look here [0], it seems that they've stopped fighting [or lost] the ad-blocker arms-race, so that's something at least!