Yes, notification permission was previously granted by default, because the ability to block an app from sending notifications predates the concept of affirmati

Yes, notification permission was previously granted by default, because the ability to block an app from sending notifications predates the concept of affirmative app "permissions". Android has recently been refining their notifications model, increasing the granularity of the notifications by splitting them into "types" and user-assigned "priority" levels. It seems default-off is the newest step in that, apparently.