Unfortunately Google caved and are giving away 100 million dollars. I wish they had a spine like Meta. I generally despise both companies (Meta more than Google) but the enemy of my enemy can be my friend at arm's length.
But I still agree with you - would rather have seen Google not give in to this sort of thing at all.
It was very different for Meta - they already don't like sending people away from their site so it was much easier for them to hold out.