Hmm. OK, better wording would be "Handling mitigation such as MCAS is required in order...". I've seen several news articles, such as the one cited, which reported that the yoke forces decreased near stall AoA in certain flight regimes. Here's one from the NYT: [0] Originally MCAS was implemented for rather extreme maneuvers, and required both the AoA sensor and a G-force sensor to agree. Later, it was discovered that low-speed stalls also had yoke-force problems, and the control authority was increased, and the G-force requirement dropped.
And as stated in countless well cited articles, this was done in order to maintain the 737 type rating and make the MAX 8 handle like other 737. Not to meet regulations that were otherwise unmet.
[0] https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/01/business/boeing-737-max-c...