So I have a conspiracy theory around that. Android used to put the volume slider at the top of the screen. At some point they moved it to the right side, and now blocks the skip button on YouTube. I won’t doubt this was done on purpose, so if you lower the volume for an ad, you will be forced to watch more of it.
I could understand that if they were an overseas company, but they are from the US. That had to be one of the most incompetent customers service reps ever.