>>14403436the tidal force exerted by Earth on Luna means that the side facing us at any given point in time will get slightly deformed, just as we see our oceans get deformed in the same manner
over time, this mass imbalance means that there is a permanent pull on a specific side, namely the one with the imbalance, because any attempt at rotation relative to the Earth-facing side gets counteracted by the torque produced as soon as this imbalance occurs, i.e. when the side with the mass imbalance isn't facing directly against Earth, there will be a tidal force pulling it back
