hm you have a point that it might not have been removed completely, but the problem with that point that i personally have is that this reached me too late to just believe it was really never removed.
For some reasons i would not believe blindly in "evidences" that are in control of the one that is in question and could manipulate it later for such claims and also was experienced to not be trustworthy for what they say..
saying that, there are ways to check if something was there at a time or not. the one source i know that could help here only seems to store records from 29th jun 2023 18:44:33 onwards which is too late for this.
you are right, it does not make a difference in if they can be trusted, but it makes a difference in why not and what to expect if you do so despite the red flags or -as a gov- just let things go on.
A person who by accident was speeding should maybe be treated differenrly than a person who intentionally(!) does so while risking others lifes. and what would be more proof of intention than a written statement or removed canary? thus such a statement does make a difference in terms of they just cannot handle their stuff, don't care at all or maybe even have evil intentions.
examples:
some kids making a fire in the forest cause they don't know the risks
vs.
some young adults making a fire in the woods cause they just don't care despite knowing the risks
vs.
a company making fire in the woods because its cheaper to do stuff there and they lack the resouces to do it safe and someone else will pay the firefighters anyway.
vs.
a company stating to want to do so cause they like it despite they could afford doing it secure but just no one could or would sue them anyway.
while i don't want to say google is like no.4 here, to me these examples all make huge differences, no matter if the woods actually cought fire or not.