VerPoilu

I think maybe whatever client you use could build this functionality.

Is the database of websites installed locally in the extension or is it calling home for every website I visit?

Let's not build anything because there are no users. There are no users if we don't build anything.

It works on Android, but I don't believe it works on iOS.

I understand we have all the proof now, but back then, how can someone get intimidated by a call that could easily be fake.

Fair enough, but a decent actor could probably work as well.

How did he prove he was actually himself? Seems like anyone could have done it with a bit of AI.

For that they use iframes, which have a different security system.

Because of the CORS settings on Google's servers would tell your browser to not go forward with the request. There are two ways it could eventually be possible:

• By opening the video in a new page/tab that only contains the video, with the YouTube player, which defeats the purpose a bit.
• By installing an addon or an app on your device.

Fair enough, that's interesting. I assume this only applies to the non-web clients. On the web, it would not be possible. You can verify by looking at the outgoing network requests on this random video for example: https://invidious.privacyredirect.com/watch?v=qKMcKQCQxxI

I'm pretty confident that you are wrong.

Invidious and YouTube piped (and LibreTube) by default load the videos server-side, as opposed to GrayJay, NewPipe or Smarttube.

It has advantages (mostly that your IP address is not shared with YouTube, and it allows users from countries where YouTube is blocked to still access it) and inconvenients (much harder to keep up when YouTube actively seeks to block them).