Ads on YouTube have become completely unbearable, and everyone bending over backwards telling people to "just pay for YouTube Premium" are also part of the problem. They are ALLOWING these fucking companies to rip them off. It's the same deal with games that utilize intrusive DRM - "oh you're a pirate because Denuvo works correctly" even though paying customers have been complaining about known problems and issues with Denuvo. The price of Premium is way too expensive and even if I had the money to pay for it I would not pay for it because I can get no ads for free with adblockers as well as blocking sponsor segments with SponsorBlock. There are even more extensions that do WAY more shit that Premium doesn't even offer. Pirates continue to win because the services these corporations provide are dogshit. Gabe Newell famously said that piracy is not a pricing issue, but rather an issue with the service provided; people turn to piracy because the paid options are awful. Same reason why streaming is losing to free movie websites and torrents. The people white-knighting and running PR damage control for companies that don't give a rat's fucking ass about them are part of the problem because they expect people to just go out and pay for a service they either can't afford or don't want to pay for. Wonder why these Big Tech companies get away with this? Because of these people. No matter what kind of BS they pull, these people will defend them at every chance they get. I do not want to pay for Premium; it's way too overpriced for a service that is supposed to provide you with ad-free viewing, which is a fucking lie since there are sponsored segments injected into videos that are just a different form of advertising, since the YouTubers are being paid to promote these products or services. The internet has become unusable because of people simping for Big Tech. Until YouTube provides me with a cost-efficient 'lite' version of Premium ($0.99 - $4.99) that only offers ad-free viewing, my adblocker is staying on and these white knights can suck it.