Mason is correct. I'm the guy who originally brought up the concern that the developers might be integrating a JavaScript interpreter into youtube-dl. RMS got the community to talk about the issue, and people who know more than me about programming have determined that it does not execute code.
I now use youtube-dl. Actually, more often I now use Invidious https://invidio.us/, the AGPLv3 web program to replace the proprietary web program on youtube.com. Someone on this forum posted about it earlier. I use it in combination with an extension that redirects YouTube links in Abrowser. It works just like using YouTube directly. It's great! I still like to use youtube-dl, though. My Downloads folder is stuffed with every video I've watched, just in case YouTube really does become inaccessible to free software users in the future.
