>>105604102 (OP)
Normalizing paying for Youtube will likely end up with fragmentation of "free" streaming services. Some will switch to those who still aren't monetized, others will stay. As time goes on, some of the others will fall to monetization, either because "those fools are actually paying for it", or just because it'll be effectively required to move a lot of money for such a platform. So now you're paying over $50 for what used to be free.
Besides that, there's also the doxxing yourself part, and you don't get any privacy despite being a paying customer; you often still get ads even after paying, and it's getting worse; platforms start shaping themselves after what "sells" and you get shit like shorts; it just sets a precedent for "just pay for everything lol". I'm sure there's plenty of other downsides.
In spite all this, people still can't post and watch whatever they want ( that's legal), because """"fringe"""" content might wake up an NPC or two. In fact, just about everything continues to get worse, meanwhile tons of that earned money is spent trying to solve non-problems like ad blockers and swear words.
