Anyone could take a dump on the welcome mat, too. That would be "unfair" to the vast majority of people who would like to walk in the front door without stepping in crap, however. Google are trying to keep the platform usable and pleasant for its users. Sometimes they may be overzealous, but the effort is still worthwhile.

It's funny, a few years ago they received credit for not operating a walled garden. I guess that wasn't true.

There's no reason to be absolutist. Android itself is relatively open. The play store is slightly less so.

How is it 'slightly less so'? In what way is it open at all? I see no different between this behavior and Apple's behavior except that Apple has a (slightly) more human appeals procedure.

And frankly, users buy Android for the Apps, so what good is the platform being open if the store is not?