I wanted to avoid it if I could, so I could offer friends and family a good general solution not making them beholden to my tyrannical whims, and it looks like the main thing Element will be doing is withdrawing the app from the general app stores. Which seems like the very minimum required to comply. I’m not sure if matrix.org will still work in the UK but most instances should unless the government block them. In which case I can self-host.