I agree. It's insanely user-hostile that the "never auto-play" setting in Safari (for example) doesn't work and hasn't worked for years. To be honest, I have no recollection of it ever working reliably.
Although it is an arms race and obnoxious web pages can have javascript/webassembly video players that render into a canvas, etc., I still blame Apple for not sorting this out, and even backtracking on click/tap-to-play.
IIRC, at some point Apple did roll out default click/tap-to-play on iPhones, and there was a huge outcry from web developers (probably including Google/youtube) that it broke their sites. I expect the real complaint was that it interfered with pushing unwanted video advertisements.
Although it is an arms race and obnoxious web pages can have javascript/webassembly video players that render into a canvas, etc., I still blame Apple for not sorting this out, and even backtracking on click/tap-to-play.
IIRC, at some point Apple did roll out default click/tap-to-play on iPhones, and there was a huge outcry from web developers (probably including Google/youtube) that it broke their sites. I expect the real complaint was that it interfered with pushing unwanted video advertisements.