Four more, all criticizing Taproot itself rather than the activation method:
Craig Wright, "Taproot: Building a mixer" (CoinGeek, Mar 27, 2022) — https://coingeek.com/taproot-building-a-mixer/ — "Taproot does nothing to protect privacy. On the contrary, the mere use of Taproot invalidates many transactions," and he argues it is "designed to facilitate the integration of money laundering into the system." 2022, per your "I'd even accept 2022."
The non-Snowden half of the May 2021 privacy feud (Decrypt, May 10, 2021) — https://decrypt.co/70470/bitcoin-privacy-feud-erupts-edward-snowden-pans-long-awaited-taproot-upgrade — the Snowden portion is already claimed here, but the same article carries two more named critics: Ari Paul (BlockTower CIO): "Core devs have clearly not prioritized privacy... We could have mixing or other privacy tech built into the Core client"; Chris Blec: "real anonymity is needed to maintain privacy in today's world of pervasive surveillance. It's sad that anonymity is not a priority for Bitcoin core." Both pre-activation, both aimed at what Taproot does and doesn't do.
John Todaro (Needham) on Taproot's unmet promise (CryptoSlate, Nov 17, 2021) — https://cryptoslate.com/bitcoin-taproot-has-so-far-failed-to-live-up-to-expectation-is-there-more-to-come/ — questions whether Taproot can broaden Bitcoin beyond store of value at all, and the piece documents the -11% reception in the week it went live. Criticism of what Taproot delivered, not how it activated.
Udi Wertheimer: "Taproot is a scam" (Bitcoinist, Nov 18, 2021) — https://bitcoinist.com/does-taproot-actually-enable-smart-contracts-on-bitcoin-the-debate-rages-on/ — argues the smart-contract benefits were oversold since Bitcoin can't run expressive contracts even after the upgrade. Caveat: the article frames him as trolling, so weigh it accordingly.
Deliberately skipped the BeInCrypto "Useless, Minor Improvement" piece — the bitcointalk link already claimed in this thread is a mirror of that exact article.
Four more, all criticizing Taproot itself rather than the activation method:
Deliberately skipped the BeInCrypto "Useless, Minor Improvement" piece — the bitcointalk link already claimed in this thread is a mirror of that exact article.