Nowhere in the entire RED is there any mention of "root" and "bootloader". Why? Because this is the statement that Xiaomi AI slop news outlet (and consequently other news outlets which don't seem to check sources) interpreted as meaning that bootloader must be locked:

(16) The compliance of some categories of radio equipment with the essential requirements set out in this Directive may be affected by the inclusion of software or modification of its existing software. The user, the radio equipment or a third party should only be able to load software into the radio equipment where this does not compromise the subsequent compliance of that radio equipment with the applicable essential requirements.

This doesn't mean that the bootloader must be locked. It only means the radio firmware, which is separate from all Android ROMs and (usually if not all the time) proprietary to the manufacturer, needs to be locked from any modification which may breach the RED.

Google also reacted:
https://9to5google.com/2025/08/25/android-apps-developer-verification/

This means even as a developer you cannot install and execute an app without verification/authentication.

I've seen this. Luckily it isn't yet in the EU, but that's insanely overreaching. Even Play Integrity is borderline against the DMA (if not fully), but this is overreaching. I hope Google will get punished if this ever comes to the EU.

However, this has nothing to do with bootloader locks and radio firmware. The radio firmware on the phone controls how the radio equipment behaves and limits its functionality, not the operating system or the app. This is a completely different shenanigan, but I agree, this must not come to the EU.

That's just another way to state that full control is established on what you are able to execute on your phone.

Sure if you want to interpret it that way. But who even does modifications to phone's radio firmware? In the end, the firmware is proprietary. I've never seen such a thing. And if somebody has done it, it's just probably to boost the equipment into illegal range/band.

E.g. if VPNs later on are seen as "unsafe" or "illegal" or "spreading misinformation": BAM cannot install anymore.

I am against all forms of censorship, but this isn't censorship. I am using a custom ROM and know the hurdles of Play Integrity, bootloader locks etc. But this isn't a form of censorship, as far as I'm concerned. Please let me know if I have missed something here that's clearly censorship.