Yes, RIOT removes all metadata (including EXIF profile) by default, unless you uncheck "Remove EXIF" (I think I mistakenly told you to make sure you uncheck those to remove metadata - you actually have to leave them checked, because the label says "Remove...", but you probably got the point). These checkboxes are located in the Metadata tab, present in the bottom of the window.
luci.criosweb.ro/riot/images/screenshots/metadata-settings_mare.jpg
It's really interesting you can't see the Metadata tab in the stand-alone version of RIOT.
I can't remember if there is any reason to not show it, but you can try to resize the window and see if this fixes your problem. If you didn't changed any settings inside that tab, the default setting will apply, and EXIF should be gone.
You can test by optimizing an image, then load it again and see if EXIF is grayed out. This means there is no EXIF profile. Or yon can inspect EXIF by right clicking the file and show the image properties:
https://www.howtogeek.com/289712/how-to-see-an-images-exif-data-in-windows-and-macos/
I know you didn't mean any disrespect, that's why I think it's rather ironic than upsetting. I know that some of my fellow Romanians from UK (saw you are from UK in the profile) are triggering some negative feelings because of their behavior ( and I am not talking about developers, but about the common Romanian immigrant), and I generally agree that there are a lot of bad examples and rotten apples. Still, I can't do anything to stop that, but maybe after knowing me, you will always add something like "but, hey... there are some exceptions" when feeling angry and frustrated about Romanian devs :)