The core Redis code (originally announced on this site in 2009 [1], before Garantia Data started in 2011, or became Redis Labs in 2014) has always been BSD licensed. Only extensions from Redis Labs (e.g., Redis look) were licensed under AGPL, and changed to Commons Clause / Redis Source Available License. Those extensions were never part of an AWS cloud service.
See also [2]
I agree that there’s a serious amount of FUD around it. I think it’s at least in part because it proliferating could seriously harm Alphabet’s ability to freely grab people’s code to incorporate in their consumer products (YouTube, G Suite, etc.) without reciprocating, and they’ve been careful to semi-subtly spread the FUD (ie. publish https://opensource.google/docs/using/agpl-policy/). https://drewdevault.com/2020/07/27/Anti-AGPL-propaganda.html
I think there's a serious amount of FUD around it. I suppose it's because of how rare it is. With more usage, it would probably bee seen as less dangerous.