Lots of good info here I'm not going to repeat, but I think if you're going to open home assistant to the public Internet, you should not use duckdns. It's better to get your own domain and set up a reverse proxy to use https. Or if it's too technical, subscribe to nabu casa and let them handle it for you.
I think the laws need to clarify the difference between just hosting vs suggesting content. Tik Tok should be responsible since it suggested the dangerous video, unlike if it was just hosted on an AWS server.
Also bought mine off AliExpress. It was one of the fake pokemon shell models, so that feels a little cheap but looks nice. Otherwise the unit functions perfectly, no scratches on the screen and buttons are responsive.
Yeah if you can do it yourself it's about half that. Save the hero builds an older revision but it's also cheaper.