I agree, but I don't see why Google gets more critical attention than the iPhone or Xbox.

If you tell people you have a closed platform and then you have a closed platform, people who want an open platform will have a lower preference for your products and obsequious fawns will defend you by telling people who don't like it to use the open platform instead.

When you claim to have an open platform and then try to close it, the treachery is transparent even to knuckleheads and you can't fob people off by telling them to use the open platform when you're supposed to be the open platform. Even some of the apple-polishers won't like you because you're breaking their alibi.

It's the same reason nobody cares about Xbox but Microsoft signaling that they want to do the same thing with Windows 11 has people gathering pitchforks and installing Linux.

iPhone has always been that way (try installing an .ipa file that's not signed with a valid apple developer certificate). For Google forced app verification is a major change. Xbox I don't know..