Disconnect it from your network. Hard to serve ads if it can't contact the servers it is pulling them from.
cyberwolfie
Are you me? Except I use FreeTube instead of Piped. I am so happy with this solution. Years of discontent of watching services going through the enshittification cycle... everything just becoming so underwhelming. This has given me back freedom over my own media consumption. No ads. No endless scrolling through bullshit content. Just a nicely personally curated selection of movies and TV shows (on Jellyfin) and an ad-free YouTube-experience with sponsorblock and dearrow enabled, and blocking of live chats and shorts.
Yes, I've checked this, and it works in regular Firefox.
I have not updated Librewolf since last time it worked (yesterday), but I'll poke around in the settings to see.
I'm on Fairphone 4 with CalyxOS, and I am happy with that. I would not expect them to release a Fairphone 6 anytime soon, so unless OP has all the time in the world, the Fairphone 5 should be good if they want to go this route.
Freetube exists for Android also.
Syncthing is your friend. Freetube stores playlists, history, settings and subscriptions as .db-files which you can sync between devices. Android version also allows access to these files if enabled in settings.
This is my solution also. I listen to audio books on my way to work, and read on an ebook-reader in the evening. Can be tricky to sync when the chapter structure is non-traditional though (e.g. Discworld).
Playlists, history, subscriptions and settings are all stored as .db-files in ~/.config/FreeTube (or whatever path it is if you are using the Flatpak). Sync those :) On FreeTube Android, you have to turn on custom data storage path in the settings first.
Depends on your budget, I guess. My setup consists of a regular Samsung Smart-TV that I have disconnected from the network, connected to a mini-PC from Minisforum running Linux Mint. The reason I got that was mainly for gaming, could get away with a significantly cheaper option if not. I run my own Jellyfin-server for media content (movies, TV and music) and use FreeTube to watch YouTube (which I sync with my laptop and mobile using SyncThing). I do use a wireless foldable and rechargeable keyboard with built in trackpad, but it's not working as great as I imagined. Corsair used to have a nice media keyboard, but as far as I know they have discontinued it and I haven't yet found a new one that fits my criteria, so I keep using the foldable one.
As for gaming, I run emulation through RetroArch and Steam in big picture mode. I have four 8BitDo Ultimate controllers in case I get any friends over who are keen on a round of Mario Kart.
Are there any write-ups on the situation in Europe under GDPR-legislation? Mostly I read about the US-situation which seems like the wild west, but I can't imagine that it is perfectly fine in the EU either even if you opt-out of using their apps etc.
Obligatory post mentioning that Freetube exists on Android as well. With Syncthing, I sync history, playlists and subscriptions. It's brilliant.