It isn't perfect, and there are a number of reasons content can leave. I know a few of my favorite channels have had issues dealing with content getting pulled due to things like it having certain World War 2 imagery in historical context, or analysis of music theory of modern songs for having too many seconds of copyright music. People can also delete their accounts and things will disappear. Some is also just plain pirated content.

But for how much content there is on YouTube, the vast majority stays there, at least compared to more traditional media. Many things I've been watching lately have been over a decade old. It really helps in repairing older things for finding lessons on things that haven't changed much in recent years.

As for privacy, we're all at least moderately tech savvy people here. We know we're dealing with an advertising company here and what that entails. That doesn't thrill me, but that's the deal to get the content. Google does make at least some data available to view and delete, so that's still a bit better than most places tracking us.

While there is room for improvement, I still feel it beats most everything else legitimate on cost vs what you get.