I have YT Premium and if Google bans yt-dlp, I will cancel my subscription. I pay them not to do that.
To buy premium to support creators.
Once yt becomes hostile the deal between me and yt is off.
The concern is likely that if they let it become too easy the small minority becomes a large majority and the ad business becomes unsustainable.
Consider the ease and adoption of newsgroups in the early 90s vs Napster/Limewire later and the effect that had on revenues.