The new version of freetube added a extra big play button on videos whenever you stop, play, pause, or hover the mouse over the video player. I found it quite annoying.
Today I discovered in Settings, Player, “Display Play Button in Video Player” - removes it!!!
Bonus TIP: If you use mullvad VPN setup freetube to use the socks5 proxy - this GREATLY reduces the bot detection issues youtube has been doing lately.