Which cannot be automated, AFAICT. I'm syncing pictures of 4 GooglePhoto accounts twice a week each on a machine at home. Fire and forget.
But yeah, Google takeout can be done once a month if you have time to spare for that task.
But yeah, Google takeout can be done once a month if you have time to spare for that task.
It seems to me like deleting the files over your storage limit is the easy path for both you and google and I don't see how this is an example of holding you hostage. At most bad communication and a lack of warning.
If there was a problem with insufficient warning, that's a problem, but not a hostage problem.
To be sure I backup my phone's photos using rsync (via termux) to my own backup locations.