They still lied, because they didn't say "X is shit" but "Z said that X is shit", however Z apparently never said that.

I have become very cautious of such stories for this very reason. Who gets how much blame has a lot to do with "culture" or momentum. Bashing Microsoft for example is always super fine, but at multiple occasions I found the facts to be much more nuanced.

If a slop engine calls a slop company slop, has anyone really lost?