It is not me removing it, it is Microsoft and Sony and the people who buy consoles. Like your example of changing graphical settings, players can still pay their subscription and access open if they want to play powerplay if the change is made.
Sony and Microsoft do not block players access to Powerplay - as it has been implemented, by Frontier, for all players in all game modes, which means that it is available in Solo which means that all console players can access it, not just those with premium platform access.
PvP-gating any existing feature to Open would remove access to an existing feature from console players without premium platform access.
Changing graphics settings costs nothing - unlike premium platform access on consoles.