Well, if they say it's not fraud, who am I to say otherwise!

Joking aside, the "we just like the stock" "this is not financial advice" stuff is as much a defence as the Someone Who Isn't Me thing I remember seeing on drug-related forums years back. You feel like it's protection because you're not getting prosecuted for admitting something you know is at least in the ballpark of law-breaking, but in reality you're just small-fry that nobody cares about. The moment a big-time dealer is under the spotlight, no amount of SWIM is protection.

I don't expect anyone from WSB to receive repercussions for this, but afaik this is dangerous legal territory and their defensive phrasing is a facade.