I wholeheartly agree with the concerns shared by other plugin developers about these unethical practices.

To me it feels like a big hypocrisy.

Jetpack is NOT more equal than others. This permanent featuring has to stop. For years it is also placed on the best location on .org plugin directory and also in the plugin installer of every WordPress installation.

Anyone can clearly see that these are ads. And the purpose is to bring users to the features of Jetpack — or just to upsell their services, like the backup services.

What would it be otherwise?

It doesn’t matter what Otto or someone else from Automattic/ Audrey Capital is calling it. We can see and think for ourselves.

Again: Jetpack is NOT more equal than others.

I recommend anyone to stay away from Jetpack. There is just no reason ever why a website should connect with WordPress.com and transfer almost all its data to it, except for the user password. See: https://jetpack.com/support/what-data-does-jetpack-sync/

There’s no reason ever for that.