Why _shouldn’t_ people have to make actually-valid-html? We don’t tolerate “only sort of correct JSON” tightening the acceptable requirements for valid HTML and CSS would likely make using those formats in more places _easier_.
HTML is different because it is parsed by the browser the end user is using when it is using it. If a site completely broke like, f.e. how Mozilla treated bad XHTML sites (instead of showing the site itself you'd get some yellow page with the error) when you got a tiny syntax error then anything with user generated content (forums, blogs, etc) or even just generated could be a potential minefield. Especially as websites started adding code from external sources (be it for ads or for things like youtube embeds or whatever).
Delete a byte from a zip file, and it won’t unzip.
I don’t see why HTML should be different…