Advertising ID collection from GMA SDK

For apps that target API level 31 (Android 12) I know the new requirement in the docs is that we declare the normal permission:
com.google.android.gms.permission.AD_ID

For prior API levels however, when looking in the android manifest after publishing the APK, I cannot find this permission declared, even though the docs say it should be automatically added to the library?

Does anyone know where to find the Advertising ID permission while using GMA SDK when publishing API 30 and below, or was the requirement always to add this manually?

I also received this notification but unfortunately have no idea how to find, where to look, or what changes to be made if neccessary. Our app does not include ads, and currently our Minimum API level is 24 (Android 7) while target API level is set to Automatic (highest installed).

Am following to see if anyone knows how to do this.