It's arguable that one of the issues Android has in this regard is it has become less open as time goes by, making it look just as bad in regulatory eyes. More

It's arguable that one of the issues Android has in this regard is it has become less open as time goes by, making it look just as bad in regulatory eyes. More locked down and more core functionality being put into proprietary apps in the play store in the name of timely updates, they could have achived the same effect with open source apps in the play store but chose not to. Yes they are now quickly pivoting to allow side-loading to be simplified but if the EU wasn't cracking down on such things I imaging they would have eventually removed side loading in it's entirety.