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I was getting that when logged in, without VPN (but still ad blocking.)

That’s because you’re not a YouTube customer. You want to consume their product without paying and without viewing any ads.

They are very logically making that difficult for you. They are exercising their right to refuse service to you.

Aka a leech. Even torrent sites look down on that behavior.

I wasn't sure which of the parameters was causing it. Looks like ad blocking is the one, then.