> Paying for something not to happen is different than paying for something in return.

The rough metaphor about restaurants, is not an equivalent situation.

---

> you pay the content creators by watching the ads with your time or the subscription

To clarify, you believe that there is an ephemeral currency of attention.

Your attention (which was to be directed at the content creator) can be redirected forcefully, unless you pay in money. I'd be remiss to call it outright extortion, but the parallel is there.