"Why would anybody write an article like this?" Because more than you know is happening in the Great Big World outside your window, that's why.
Call it conscience or regret, because these are verifiably paid jobs. I saw the "visitors logs" to the CT sites I used to frequent myself, and it was FORMIDABLE. Myself having been a target of these shills on many occasions, I found the article compelling.
These people are operatives, whether they realize the meaning of that word or not: Individuals, hired or acquired by agencies/firms, some skilled and some just dweebs (like the fellow who wrote the article), loosely defined and organized as "public relations/public opinion subcontractors", so that neither the firms used nor the money allocated can be directly traced back to it's original source - that last part is called "shade" and deniability, and it's done this way to cover the true identity of the client/s, in case there's ever a problem of "outing" or "public notariety".
Hell, just search YouTube - there are highly trained PR professionals at "push", "social" and "soft" marketing firms just DYING to show you what they can do for you/your firm/your product/your cause, just dying to sell you their wares and services, all of whom are operating quietly and very discreetly in the open, well below the "personal radar" of almost anyone in the general public.
That's a fact. That's how business works. Money. Politics. Business. Technology. Intelligence. Perception. Counterintelligence. Espionage.
And as per the article, this is just effing TEXTBOOK, diddle-for-brains, paint-by-number disinformation and domestic/industrial spying and perception management which the author is describing - that's all, nothing more or less - and all done in the open using hired stooges (with deniability of course, to protect clients).
While occasionally occupying a gray area of the law (as when operating in violation of self-applied corporate ethics, transparency or spending guidelines), it is at present time PERFECTLY LEGAL.
Question: Has anyone at this board ever known a corporate lawyer to advise a client NOT to do something that might be in their interests, purely for the reason that IT IS PERFECTLY LEGAL? I didn't think so.
BTW, I was not speaking of anyone who's posted at this thread (yet), unless you were "working the CT circuit" for hire from 2001-2005 or so. Yet amazingly enough, I do recognize several names at this board from that time. The posts and deniability have even taken on an air of professionalism - which in the early efforts of those individuals, was sadly lacking.
If the shoe fits, wear it.