Why not a warning?

[VirusOnline]

I believe you have to agree to the terms of service to play the game so if they weren't aware of the rules, that's on them. Doesn't matter how new they are.

And who reads the lengthy ToS ?
Surely, we agree, but it's hard to follow a ToS that even SE interprets on a case by case basis rather than a hard black and white and now we've arrived at this point because of that.

Ignorance does not protect one from punishment.

Ignorance on the players part ?
No, this was willfull ignorance and interpretation on SE's part.
They let it get this far while placing blame on the playerbase.