[smoldesu]

It's hyperbole, but people would still buy it. On iOS, Google is allowed to monopolize YouTube and it shows us a dark vision for the future of platforms that enable this kind of lockdown. Google can treat the platform like a second class citizen, buy up latent iOS advertising, force people to use an inferior app and still profit handsomely off it, all at the same time.

This doesn't have to be the case. But Apple's lockdown enables Google's tyranny, so there's really no other choice. On other platforms, I can install apps like NewPipe on watch YouTube in the background without needing to download anything from Google besides the videos I want. Google is not the savior of this story by any means, but they're not afraid to play Apple's game of turning iOS users into hostages.