The sad thing is that there are so many bad extensions but they are run by professionals (crime gangs). They can figure out how to game the system (since there

The sad thing is that there are so many bad extensions but they are run by professionals (crime gangs). They can figure out how to game the system (since there is no humans - that is definitely possible). So this "half-ass" approach by Google just helps malicious actors - they just need to be under the "radar" and game the system. Google is trying to do "half ass" approach. Which does not help users, does not help developers, and it also does not help Google. The right approach is to do these reviews fully and that human is involved at some point. Of course, these things are are not free. So they can require $1000 or more per year subscription if extension require more than basic permissions. They anyway require at least 60K per year for using an API. Or something like that. But it could be also that Google does not care about real security: just appearance of security. They need to sell ads and all other things they do (Chrome, Android, G Suite, etc.) is just a smoke screen.