Microsoft got legal approval for this. How many extra-legal, or grey-area "Operations b49" have taken place? I don't imagine Microsoft has done many (if any)

Microsoft got legal approval for this. How many extra-legal, or grey-area "Operations b49" have taken place? I don't imagine Microsoft has done many (if any) extra-legal beheadings, but surely somebody has. All those academic papers about taking control of botnets and measuring the take-up rates on penis pill offers had to come from somewhere.