Companies, police and politicians always freak out when someone doesn't want money, but just want them to admit to doing something wrong. Getting a $1Mill is easier than getting an apology.
Getting a fake apology is easy, getting actual admission of wrongdoing is hard. The former is embarrassing, the latter can be used as evidence in later lawsuits. This is precisely the reason why criminal prosecutions of companies result in the company admitting no wrong but coincidentally agreeing to a 8 to 9 digit fine.
I think the difference is between a fake "We are sorry you feel this way" and a real "we messed up big time on this. For starters, here's what we will do to make sure it doesn't happen again".
Well of course. Getting the state to admit it was in the wrong is a precursor to get the state to stop doing something and the state absolutely hates giving up power.