I clearly see your point. Two comments:
I deliberately keep the number of people I follow just below 100 as this is what I can relate to. Mostly people I know in real life. Then seeing one of their reviews at the top meant a lot to me. So following 4000 is difficult to comprehend.
I am quite sure that the lack of improvements is due to Google’s fear of compromising our privacy. A few LGs have experienced how disappointed business owners reach out to them in very unpleasant ways. This problem would probably get out of control if business owners could more easily reach out to Maps users. I guess all the lawyers at Google would predict a ton of legal cases coming their way.