Yeah, I worked at a bank once. I was told following policy and using dependencies with known vulnerabilities so my ass was covered was more important than actually making sure things were secure (it was someone else's problem to get that update through the layers of approval!). Needless to say, I didn't last long

I was always under the impression security was a red herring and the real reason was control. Google wants to own the device and rent it to users with revocable terms the same way SaaS subscription software works. Locking down what can run is a key step in that process