Assuming they truly don't get paid directly. Let's just say you can quietly buy up a stock for your personal account and then under the guise of your "portal" put out PR after PR after PR, making a stock go up a self fulfilling prophecy or doing your best to try. They've done this with Novelos, CVM, CTIC and some others. I think companies go along with it or collude with them in order to help them raise money. Havrilla isn't a reporter, he's good at cutting and pasting. It's a shady pump and dump site.
All of the above in my opinion,