People likely feel that they are not doing (or spending) anywhere near enough on the problem. Particularly because many of the gripes with YouTube have gotten deliberately worse, yet the situation with stuff like creepy Elsa videos (and by extension, creepy comments and suspected pedophile activity) has not improved for years.

The 'adpocalypse' showed that the best way to enact any meaningful change on YouTube is to get the advertisers riled up. So that's the lever they're going to focus on.

I think it's always going to be a double-edged sword at best.

It's convenient that simply disabling comments allows youtube to continue monetizing these videos while pretending pedos aren't their main audience.

Frankly, getting advertisers involved is probably the best way to get actual meaningful action taken.