I can't root my Android phone right now to install something like LineageOS, but yesterday, I sat down, installed ADB, and got rid of a mountain of unnecessary crap that comes packaged with Android and which is installed as a "system package" so you're not allowed to uninstall it normally (e.g. Gmail).
Unlocking bootloader/flashing isn't so easy for most people. I root every device I get, but for normal users this process isn't easy. Also some manufacturers aren't so friendly towards people unlocking bootloaders. I remember Sony lowering camera quality when you unlocked/installed Cyanogenmod back in Z2 times, or more recently Asus preventing you from unlocking completely.
Yeah, the bootloader really seems like a challenge. ADB fortunately is extremely easy, especially if you use a tool like App Manager from F-Droid to correspond package names to specific applications.
Just adb shell when your phone is in developer mode and you hook up to your computer via USB, then pm uninstall --user 0 packagename.
Not really. It could be simply that in an effort to not appear biased he over corrected and ruled more harshly against Google.
Now I'm not saying that this is what happened here, but it's just another facet of why it's important to avoid bias entirely, not simply trust that someone can rise above them.