You either deploy ad blocking, or you deploy malware. Ad blocking is personal infosec.
Old news
In HN's opinion, what should a company do when users are actively trying to subvert it from making money?
Imagine a situation where someone walks into Apple Store to explicitly steal iPhones. Is Apple justfied in preventing the person from entering? If you think "steal" is a bridge too far, lets say someone walks into Apple Store with an expectation to chat with the employees, goof around with display units, preventing legitimate customers from accessing them - will the company be justified in preventing that behavior?
Whether or not you like Google or their practices, I don't necessarily understand people who insist on getting something for free and also get upset about the service. There are many bad/unreasonable things YouTube does but this is the least objectionable, imho.
As the saying go, "if the product is free, you are the product". Pay for your stuff, or you degrade yourself.
I'll just say that Youtube Premium has been a good value and there's comfort knowing that creators get a ton more revenue from my views.