Important point made in that article:
This freedom [with Purism] allows you to load (not even ‘sideload’) whatever applications you would like
The very existence of the term “sideload” reveals that something is rotten in Android-world.
Meh, all Palantir and NSO Group need to do is get “verified”, if not done already.
That depends on the “price” that is paid to be “verified”.
They want all developers to register and hand over things like their legal name, address, and possibly government ID.
For large software development companies, it’s probably not an obstacle.
For small-time developers, the above may be completely unacceptable.
Not to mention that by definition, Google, the gatekeeper, makes the rules and can extend the requirements in the future. So, as a developer, big or small, if you go all in with Android-world, you are submitting to Google and accepting whatever Google’s requirements are, now and in the future.
Apple is further down this road. We have seen both civil legal action and the regulators circling. At the same time, Google has its own legal problems with the regulators and it is hard to see the above as helpful in that regard.