Blame the pandemic.
My comment was (slightly) tongue-in-cheek.
From memory, there have been a number of standard "explanations" / excuses / pithy-shut-downs for anyone asking "why?"
- Millennium bug
- H&S (always a good 'un; especially useful in the early 2000's, when councils and other public bodies didn't like something, but didn't have anything concrete with which to prohibit it)
- GDPR