To me it is the advertising that is the problem. Without ads, there’s no need for collecting user data either. Even if it’s non-targeted ads, that would still make the advertisers the customer, not the people watching those videos. This incentivizes them to optimize the platform to please the advertisers, not the users, resulting in a worse service.
I understand why many people feel like the option to have non-targeted ads instead of monthly fee seems tempting, but in my opinion this doesn’t solve the root of the problem, which is the ads-based bussines model. It’s what makes everything go to shit.