I've been having some weird issues over the last few days with not being able to search for things in YouTube when I'm logged in via SmartTube account.
So I decided to try accessing it directly. Well guess what? It looks like YouTube now requires age verification in AU.
Sorry Google... I'm not uploading my passport, drivers licence or govt id to watch your shit. I am however now very incentivized to use Tube archivist and Jellyfin, plus cron job to scrape your shit with gleeful abandon.
EDIT: Rather than removed about it, I did something and made Smarttube work without a google account. If that floats your boat, have at it. It supports direct import of your saved playlists via Google Takeout ZIP file, subscriptions etc without needing a youtube account.
Also, remember the excellent TubeArchivist exists if you want even more control.
Interesting corollary for you. I had an old google account with an anon email address (skiff.com, I think it was).
When I signed up, they accepted it, but in the intervening time, decided no-mas.
For the longest time, I couldn't post comments, upvote etc on Youtube (no great loss)...until I signed up with a new account using a @proton address.
Another addition: Embedded videos still don't work and say "video unavailable" even though my dummy account is logged in.
Heh, I forgot Skiff even existed, haven't heard that name for years.
I actually haven't tried signing up with a different provider but I suspect they still ask for a phone number? The device I tried it is an old phone so probably that didn't work because of it. I might try with an old Google tablet again if I need further. I created the one I'm using with that last time. Though it was at least 6 years ago.