Well go ahead- g/android isn't stopping anyone from moving to iPhone...
I myself use iphone cause I like the hardware quality (over android). I pay for youtube premium cause I like the service (over apple music for example)...
You can bellow as much as you want that you are losing a "free service" but nothin is free buddy at the end of the day. You get what you paid and youtube premium is one of the few services I find worth paying... Not worth it, you say? Feel free to bounce to a zillion other video platforms - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_online_video_platforms .
Its not "gatekeeping". Its called paying for a service. NIH is funded by US taxpayers. Youtube isn't- they need to pay for the servers; it isn't free, you know.
> Creators will then go back to the good, old fashioned model of hosting their own websites and videos
LMAO. Nope they won't. They'll go to tiktok or some other platform where you'll surprise pikachu face have to watch ads. Ads powers internet. Someone has to pay server cost at the end of the day- either pay with your dollar or your attention. There's no other option.