Why don't journalists from e.g TechCrunch or the Verge confront Sundar point blank and ask him how can stuff like this happen and why is the only solution to blow up on social media?
This is dubbed as "Access Journalism" but it is not really Journalism at all.
Have had no problems reaching people about dev accounts, but also no problem even about consumer subscription services with unusual challenges, such as wanting to merge music or app libraries belonging to two different Apple IDs. (Can be done, an self-serve easy way and an Apple-performed hard way.)
In earlier HN thread, someone said “Devs would be more than happy to pay $300/yr to be able to talk to someone!”
My guess is an HN survey would suggest devs prefer to be outraged at Apple’s $100/yr — despite it being a price point at which you get to talk to people.
You get what you pay for.
[0] https://www.cnet.com/news/how-cnet-got-banned-by-google/
Journalists like access. Confronting Sundar and making him feel ambushed even for a second means they won't get the access for the rest of their career.