Could be. But if a person responds that they wish to report 0 past SAT scores (or doesn’t select SAT as a category of scores to report), then Common App does not ask whether the person took the SAT with essay - there is no pop-up, basically.
In my opinion, the Common App requirement to report an essay score from a sitting you didn’t wish to report at all is nonsensical given the optional nature of the essay section, not to mention the optional nature of score reporting in the Common App in general (i.e. choice in score reporting within the app).
@Bella31 You can also not report any SAT scores at all in the Common App - you’d never see the pop-up question about whether you’ve taken SAT with essay - and then simply use College Board’s Score Choice to only send an official score report from College Board for the sitting you took without essay. There is nothing unethical about that approach.