I enjoy Android is because of its relatively nonrestrictive nature. It trusts that I know what I'm doing. The highly locked down nature of iOS is a reason why I will never buy one of their devices. Google will drive me further away from their services (and into GrapheneOS, which has "no" Google hooks) with moves like this.
From the article, I presume this is being done in the name of "cyber security" (least common denominator strikes again.) In newer versions of Android, a few warnings/confirmations are shown prior to sideloading an app. I think the best solution here is to gate-keep sideloading behind Developer Mode. Enabling Developer Mode, then enabling side loading, would be complex enough to stop brain dead drive-by side loading from occurring. And (mostly) only people that know what they're doing enable Developer Mode.
From the article, I presume this is being done in the name of "cyber security" (least common denominator strikes again.) In newer versions of Android, a few warnings/confirmations are shown prior to sideloading an app. I think the best solution here is to gate-keep sideloading behind Developer Mode. Enabling Developer Mode, then enabling side loading, would be complex enough to stop brain dead drive-by side loading from occurring. And (mostly) only people that know what they're doing enable Developer Mode.