User blog comment:Ciencia Al Poder/Portable Infoboxes, the first step into Wikia taking control over our content/@comment-5558012-20170501151446/@comment-5558012-20170501195145

I read some of the linked discussion and it looks like Fandom is justifying the change as protecting "interface and functionality" (another could be an ad issue, likely created by Fandom and not the wiki). So after they added the PIs you would be violating TOU if you removed them (very manipulative).

The icing on the cake "The use of portable infobox templates is non-negotiable, however." No doubt, 100% forced and not optional.