Yes, you have to pay an annual membership fee to Apple if you want your apps to stay listed in the App Store.

Would have thought Google would be on top of this though, but probably not?

It’s against play store ToS, but if somehow you can make it look organic enough it might be difficult to proof. In truth I don’t know how this kind of services operate. I do think Google would try to counter this as much as possible yes. And 8M reviews can’t be just from this kind of services, at some point you have real users engagement, you just need the initial visibility boost.

Good luck with your research🖖

Maybe something like this service. Find it a bit dishonest if you ask me, but I don’t think it affects competition that much. People will try multiple apps if they don’t find what they are looking for.

I’m waiting for this day

Adding to your comment, I think they should have different percentages of taxing as well. For example heroin should be taxed way higher than cannabis.