There is no good competitor to YouTube - there are a lot of bad ones yes, but no good one. I'd argue this is objective fact.
I use fastmail and my own domain, but most people use gmail - I don't think that's that big of a deal though.
It's odd they'd target Google in the OP - telecom providers like Comcast and Spectrum are much worse in how they treat their customers and in those cases there really isn't another option most of the time.
Can confirm that Android works great without Google Play Services, I don't have it. Most Play Store apps break but most of my apps are from F-Droid anyway.
Android without Google Play, unless you live in mainland China, does not "work great" the way most people want. I've done it and it was basically like not having a smartphone at all.
You cannot use banking apps, social media, games, streaming/Chromecast, maps (yes, I know OsmAnd exists; it has next to no information about businesses or landmarks and takes several minutes to plot a route that Google Maps or Waze calculates in less than 5 sedonds). Firefox is a reasonable alternative to Chrome and K-9 mail is good but that's about it. Unless MicroG suddenly became good in the past two years it's not a feasible solution even for people who are technically-minded.
OsmAnd, unlike Google Maps free tier, will always draw you an actually optimised route (though without considering traffic congestion).
The majority of people are “boring.” Not acknowledging your approach’s failure points (in this petty way) isn’t good marketing, really.
Bittorrent."
I should avoid Google's monopoly by becoming a criminal?
I actually mentioned that. Just shim GA connections; this happens with most ad-blocking software, and I believe happens in Firefox's "strict" mode by default. It's really trivial.
"Most of the web's emails are routed through google; I remember reading a post about a guy who set up his own SMTP server and everything, but then realised that everyone he was contacting was using gmail anyway (can't find the post)."
Only true if the majority of people you converse with over email are boring.
"Every time you see an add that's served by google, that means that there's a google embed in the page your looking at."
Again, why would you ever look at an ad? That's a ludicrous idea.
"Also, what alternative is there for YouTube? there isn't a realistic competitor."
Bittorrent.
"If you have an android phone you're forced to use google play services."
Completely false. Android works fine without Google Play Services.
EDIT: Made words better.