I have UBlock installed on Firefox and what is pictured here is what has been happening for every video that I’m clicking on. Panning doesn’t make the video play either. I tried that. It’s not my internet connection since the videos and ads that you can’t even skip and pause when you tab out play just fine on Chrome. In the days before this happened I got several popups from YouTube saying that adblockers aren’t allowed after months of browsing YouTube ad-free without issue
You’re not alone. But since YouTube is such a shitshow anyway I’m kinda glad to be pushed away for being privacy and security conscious. Invidious instances are a good point of transition while adapting to Peertube and such. Sure, most video content is uploaded to YouTube, but that’s also part of the charm of using alternatives. There’s less garbage to filter and some geniunely good and passionate (not algorithm driven) creators to discover.