Every person is already paying for Youtube with their data. The ads are asking above and beyond.

It would be an entirely different story if Google wasn’t primarily first a data-mining company, but since they are, and since selling that data (or the results of using that data) in of the MAIN revenue streams for their business, it is disingenuous to act like Youtube is some free service that is being offered to us. It’s not; it’s a massive data-mining operation of incredible value as it offers not just demographic information but vastly more details on individual interests and what kind of things they are likely to actually click and interact with than the vast majority of other platforms and sites.

We have got to stop ignoring the data aspect of businesses like Youtube.