Why are you arguing with their obviously smoke and mirrors pr when it's apparent this move has nothing to do with this line of reasoning?

It is not wild in their eyes, they need to find a way to justify it after all.
But I think that this way they are opening the door to the possibility to be sued or to be considered responsable for what is on the play store. It is not a stretch to go from "I need to verify your identity" to "you are responsible for what you accept to put on the store". They want control, they will get even responsability.

Unfortunately, less than 1% of people will even notice.

We should buy Linux phones not android ones... But consumers prefer them for some reasons.... Afaik simulating apks should be trivial

For now