Comment by sangnoir

> While not illegal, it shows the way they think, a sort of manipulative pettiness

Search engine chaff has been in the toolbag of "reputation management" PR firms for a while. Boris Johnson (former UK PM) deployed it many years ago to drown out a viral picture of him in front of a red bus bearing an ad he no longer wanted to associated with, so he was coached to tell an interviewer he has a hobby of painting model buses red.