This is marketing+. They will look for policy action here to try to capture tax payer dollars.

What incentive does HF have here?

The timing after the release of GLM 5.2 and Kimi K3 is quite convenient, too, as an angle for regulatory quashing of open-weights models just as they're entering the mainstream conversation around usurping the American frontier labs. I accept my thinking here is conspiratorial, but there's also a hell of a lot of money on the line to encourage the unscrupulous.

I don’t know if the initial “incident” was purposeful but I can tell that if I were in this position that would be my pivot.