> Do they?

Absolutely 100 percent.

> a "normie" seems much more likely to trust that this is being done for security rather than persecution

When USGov sanctions a NormieBank in a sanctioned country and its apps disappear from the Play Store and then Google announces that APK's cannot be installed anymore then even the dumbest sheeple can put two and two together.

Also, this isn't a Google issue, this is a USGov issue.

What is Google to do when people in suits ask why they provide a sanctions avoidance technology with a scary name like "sideloading"? (Sounds like something that terrorists and Iranians do, tbh.)