I know that my impact alone is close to zero when it comes to these statistics and since it is just a frontend I'd imagine it will but I'd like to be sure.
It is often claimed that these statistics - as well as leaving a comment and pressing like - contribute to a video being pushed by the algorithm but I guess no one except the YT devs knows for sure (and sometimes I'm not sure if they know either).
Oh thanks, I searched if someone had already asked this but I forgot about newpipe & freetube and only searched for piped.
Anyways, thank you so much for your answer and the detailed research you did! ^^
You are most welcome, it was a fun experiment, and I am glad to have been part of it.