from what I read, this specifically means creating an account though, not banned from watching videos.

I might be biased here, because I don't really engage with YouTube besides watching things that I get linked to from other contexts/search engine results, but... I never saw a need to create a YouTube account? So I'd actually see that as a positive. You can use the platform but you're not so much subject to google profiling you or creating filter bubbles for you.