As a former SRE for Google who cared for AMPHTML FROM BIRTH, NOBODY IS FORCING YOU TO USE AMP. In return for free hosting of the web content the publisher agrees to use the AMP format/subset. The whole point of the project was to stop walled gardens, like BBC app, like CNN app,etc., which arose because of crappy slow web pages! That was killing the searchable mobile web! AMP is to enable mobile search! The motivation is in the first page of every dang design doc for AMP at Google! You might be really surprised to learn that your supposed plan for world domination is run on a shoestring and a low priority at Google!
Wow, a "shoestring low priority" project gets top search result placement, a custom icon callout, and cannot be disabled. What do the high-pri projects get?
When it affects your bottom line by changing ranking factors then it is no longer as optional as you make it out to be.
Google decided to dominate the search world, and it now underpins a huge portion of online businesses. That comes with a level of responsibility to be fair to it's patrons that in this particular instance I feel isn't being met.
Of course they can do whatever they want, it is their product, but we don't have to like it.
