It's too naive to think that Apple, one of the biggest company, hadn't noticed that AirTag could be used for stalking. I suspect that they think it's still fine because competitors like Tile already exists
Maybe they even thought that it would be a good thing that people would stalk at first... then they could implement a semi-effective method to prevent it... and be looked at like heroes
I suggest Hanlon's Razor applies here: "never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity."