The Académie was officially established in 1635
at the time about 50 languages were spoken like Provencal/Occitane - probably Italianate dialects and Swiss patois - Walloon brogues and many more I am ignorant of. The Académie was smart political stratagem in unifying the administrative region. In the modern era it needs a reason to exist so it prescribes edicts that the French are happy to ignore.
The OED on the other hand prefers to document word usage. Gullible has been taken out of the dictionary. Redundant is shaking in its boots!