Defend what? That the photographer didn't do anything to avoid the flares? Had the photographer simply looked at the iPhone screen before taking the photo, the photographer would have clearly seen the flares. And had the photographer simply altered the angle of the camera relative to the bright lights, the photographer could have eliminated the flares.
What the photo you are thanking the photographer for, just shows how little time or effort went into taking the photo.
I have posted this too many times now, but this demonstrates the difference between a Night Mode photo where the flares were easily seen (yes I took it anyway) and how I never moved my position at all and managed to take the photo without any flares. You see, if you think cameras are simply point and shoot and you get perfection in every shot, you're expectation is totally, utterly unrealistic. Good photos, even from a camera in a cell phone still take some technique.
See these two photos to understand what I'm talking about.
In the photo below, notice the flares corresponding the lights on my deck:
Without moving at all, I saw the flares, and altered the angle of the camera relative to the lights and guess what? The flares are gone.
If you cannot understand this, I'm not sure there's anything anyone can do to help you. No camera is perfect. But as the person behind the lens you have more control over the quality of the photos you take if you put some effort into taking better photos.
Finally, if you do take a photo you particularly like and you want to fix it, download the following app from the App Store: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/snapseed/id439438619
Then simply use the Healing Tool to remove the flares.
NOTE: I did not use Snapseed with the photo samples. I really did alter the angle of the camera to remove the flares.