This is mostly to deter malicious behavior because it makes it unprofitable for bad actors to publish malware by spamming the store with dumb apps that are only life-support systems for their little packages of joy.
It's a high enough bar to trip up a lot of bad actors, but low enough that it's a simple annoyance for most of us.
But yeah, reason 4,590,234,761 why people who misbehave make things more expensive/difficult/time-consuming for the rest of us.
Interesting $5 one time is high enough bar for Chrome extensions store, but $5/mo. is not for bots on certain blue social media. Not disputing facts, just... weird.
Apples and oranges. Google bills you directly, Twitter/X bills indirectly through platforms who do not provide sufficient transparency to prevent repeat abuse.
Last I checked Twitter/X had no way to prevent you from signing up again after a ban if you paid via Apple Pay, as an example.
It's a high enough bar to trip up a lot of bad actors, but low enough that it's a simple annoyance for most of us.
But yeah, reason 4,590,234,761 why people who misbehave make things more expensive/difficult/time-consuming for the rest of us.