[DoreenMichele]

It doesn't need to incriminate anyone. It's sufficient to just intimidate everyone into conforming to whatever expectations are laid out. It's actually more corrosive to just prevent any "undesirable" behavior than to catch people who are "guilty."

[blattimwind]

(One of) the key effects here is the chilling effect.

[DoreenMichele]

Yes, you train people to be scared to Google it and then progressively train them to be scared to think about the question for fear that it will somehow leave tracks on the internet that can be found.