This issue as I see it is that it’s not exactly clear either of these examples could lead to doxing in the future. For example, Mullvad permanently deletes payment data sometimes after only 20 days. Whereas, as I mentioned above, Proton does not even allow the user to manually clear the data. There is certainly clear benefit in Proton storing your payment info, but to restrict the user from manually deleting the data is a very odd choice given the nature of their Privacy claims.
The issue with the recovery email situation, in my opinion, is the unclear nature differentiating recovery email address vs. verification emails. See this take on the dark patterns which I think exist both before and after account creation related to the recovery email address.