[brudgers]

>"I thought Google couldn't mess with rankings. Like, at all."

Google has done this before. Binggate was one very public example.

As in the case of demoting Chrome, Google's rationalization was that the ends justified the means.

It would be somewhat unsurprising to me if that was also the rationalization behind promoting Chrome - keeping in mind that Google is a publicly traded company with an obligation to its shareholders not its users. Google is not a moral agent.