Yep - losing your email account for misusing your email account makes sense.

Losing your email account for being too sarcastic on a forum about your browser software seems weird, to say the least.

Your email was not the center of your digital identity either, because you simply didn't have one. Now you need an email for interacting with the government and basically anything that isn't a low-importance smartphone app.

Killing someone's email access causes a lot of grief, and requires a lot of work to undo. It's a disproportionate punishment for acting mean (or even racist - racists are still human beings and still should have the right to keep using their email for personal comms unless they seriously and repeatedly cross the line).