If every user of yt-dlp did as I do, then it would have exactly the effect that it needs to have. If yt-dlp is used by a small minority of users, why would Google be antagonistic to it? And if it's used by sizeable portion of users, then they would care.

> If yt-dlp is used by a small minority of users, why would Google be antagonistic to it?

The concern is likely that if they let it become too easy the small minority becomes a large majority and the ad business becomes unsustainable.

Consider the ease and adoption of newsgroups in the early 90s vs Napster/Limewire later and the effect that had on revenues.

Primarily because they contractually promised the music industry they'd do everything they can to prevent tools that allow the downloading of copyrighted music from the service.