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this post was submitted on 10 Jun 2023
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Technology
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Hello,
The thing is that the agreement they linked apply to the official YouTube API (the one that you have to register for).
Invidious uses the InnerTube (a completely different "API" used by all official YouTube clients). Invidious basically acts like a web browser that access the YouTube website. It is therefore not required to agree to any TOS/policies.
All those findings where done via clean room reverse engineering (which is legal in the EU).
That makes Invidious' readme (which claims no YouTube APIs at all) disingenuous at the very least.
More likely, you need a lawyer. I read that TOS, and I think it applies to any YouTube API endpoint, internal or otherwise. Best of luck, because I agree with Invidious' goals...
Side note: a browser communicating with YouTube would be communicating with youtube. Not with com.google.android.youtube.api or whatever. What I'm seeing is that Invidious tries to act like the youtube service itself, which is very different from acting like a browser.
The InnerTube isn't the YouTube API, far from it. So it's still valid.
"Valid" and "disingenuous" mean very different things. How would you feel about editing that README point to be explicit that you use an ~~unofficial~~ undocumented YouTube API?
For the record, I don't think "InnerTube" would be considered unofficial, legally. It's authorized by YouTube, since they made and use it internally. That's the definition of "official." This is a small part of why I think the wording in the TOS makes the TOS apply to "InnerTube." What makes you think that it doesn't?
The fact that it isn't "the YouTube API". The policy only applies to the API you can get "officially".