People who live in authoritarian states like North Korea or California can (and arguably should) ignore the fact that GrapheneOS is illegal where they live and use it anyway.

If you want a privacy-violating OS, there are already two big options on the market. A secure OS for people who do not live in authoritarian surveillance states offers a benefit to some people, even if not all people. A third privacy-violating OS offers no value to anyone anywhere in the world.

As they stated "If GrapheneOS devices can't be sold in a region due to their regulations, so be it."