BAT is meant as a tipping token for content creators, you do not need to KYC to use BAT for what it was meant for. It´s also not Brave that is asking for a KYC, it´s UPHOLD and Gemini wallet that requires a KYC.
Now I do agree that BRAVE should not work with 3rd parties that require a KYC and are only available in 50 of the 188 countries where Brave has ads running. They should work with a system that allows you to send your BAT to a wallet/address of your choice.
That way you are able to tip or monetize the ads you sign up to view without any restrictions or KYC. I am still trying to uncover why in hell you partner with an epic fail such as Uphold Wallet. My best guess so far is that it´s because of the fees of being an ERC token or something similar but I hope to figure it out one day.
I btw happily KYC because I don´t believe that anything I do is still private. Hence if I can monetize my data at least I get something out of it. And it allows me to offer others who are making BAT from Brave but are in regions unsupported by Uphold or gemini, or wish to not KYC to still monetize the BAT they make from Brave.
But I definitely see the controversy you highlighted.