What are they giving for free? They _own_ the site, means, the mere purpose of the site is _advertising_ their engine while it establishes the impression to be an _independent_ source of information.
The problem is the claim of being unbiased and in fact being not at all.

There's no question that you can see such things all around in the world. Sure.

The difference is that Caitlyn was struck by that, because she thought first the site is actually unbiased, means she felt that she was cheated. And, you, now already informed of the facts behind everything, do not feel any harm.

And, for sure, somebody related to a competitor feels more being cheated, at least when he or she thinks that the own product is worth a lot more than the rating suggests...