iMessage Read Receipts Keep Turning On When Set to Off

I am running iOS 14.4.2 (no further updates available at this time). For the last couple of months (during which I was running some version of iOS 14), I have been having intermittent and unpredictable issues with Read Receipts. I always have the setting for Read Receipts in iMessages turned OFF. It has performed as intended until iOS 14. Every few weeks, a friend will let me know that my iMessages are showing Read Receipts, even though the setting is still confirmed OFF. I am usually able to resolve this (temporarily) by toggling the Read Receipts setting on and off a couple of times. However, it randomly re-starts showing Read Receipts, without warning (and the setting still shows as OFF). I have done some looking around for resolutions, and I have not found a permanent fix.

My iPhone has been rebooted, turned off, and on/off settings toggled, and the issue keeps recurring. What is the fix for this issue? Why hasn't the bug been fixed, when it concerns a fairly core functionality (one that did not have this issue prior to iOS 14, from what I have been able to read).

Any formal advice from Apple for the fix? Or informal from the community?