build process for eas build and expo build are completely different and the results are different too. the RECORD_AUDIO permission is added in config plugins like expo-av (config plugins are not run on expo build, which is a simplified and limited build system).
you can see in the above source code that you can set the config plugin options in your app.json to not request microphone permissions. we’re working on updating all api docs to include config plugin reference sections. here’s an example of what these docs look like.
i suspect the play store is rejecting the app because it needs a privacy policy. you can add a privacy policy to get around that, or remove the permission with the config plugin