That’s got to be something legal or regulatory. Some sort of sanction like black list

I've been consistently saying this online - "app stores" and "developer programs" are all about control (and exploitation) and we developers need to consistently boycott it. There is a real need for us developers to form a Union and lobby for regulations to prevent such kind of abuse and exploitation by the BigTech. If we don't act now, it is going to be too late to do so. The onslaught against our rights and freedoms, by BigTech, is the beginning of a new form "digital imperialism" where we are only seen as "labour" and "consumer".

I also have hard feelings against the apple developer program. They prove to be incompetent and evil at all levels.

While android also has this problem (requiring a Developer account), it is not that bad, because you can still publish apps outside of the app store. Sadly Google is hard at work to remove this functionality.