That's a clear example of a bad technical control, whose fix can still be implemented in iOS without the App Store. It's pretty trivial to add a feature to iOS that allows you to fake your location - there was an Android fork that had that feature for a while a few years ago.

> You can deny the permission all you want but that won’t stop them blocking features unless you tick the box

Many permissions (camera, mic, location, etc.) are trivial for the OS to spoof and don't require app store vetting.