no, cracked as in the ad-free premium versions, without paying for them

Those "cracked" versions often require extra permissions.

My favorite was a local "discover which on your contacts is on the leaked Covid quarantine list[1]" scam app. It claimed that the extra permission dialogs are just fearmongering by Google, who is in cahoots with big pharma, and wants covid to spread to sell more medications.

[1] In fact, no such leak has ever taken place, its existence was just part of the setup for the scam.

You are approaching as is the malicious developer was trying to add useful features for the users.

But in practice, these “apps that lookalike popular apps” are not intended to just be adware-less versions of the popular apps. They are frequently “hide the ads, inject the malware with more permissions” Trojan horses.

I think there is likely a dual motive from Google where they both want to stop malware _and_ stop people blocking youtube ads. The malware problem is real though.

Yes but using a real problem as a vehicle for increased control and permission is, in it of itself, a Trojan horse.

Google is doing the same thing the fake apps are doing. Real problem: bad ads. Solution: cracked app. Trojan: too many permissions, steals data.

Google: problem: bad apps. Solution: advanced Google DRM. Trojan: too many permissions, steals data.

They mean apps like SmartTube, Vanced, Instander, Spotify Premium Mod which block ads or grant other premium features for free.