The study was thoroughly flawed at the most basic levels of sampling and analysis. The article supposes that the authors of this flawed study did what they did

The study was thoroughly flawed at the most basic levels of sampling and analysis. The article supposes that the authors of this flawed study did what they did because of who they knew and what the political implications of their published results might be. That is a conspiracy theory and it is presented for emotional impact which makes it clickbait. Meanwhile increased testing is showing increased numbers in the population who are infected with only minor if any symptoms. This has major implications for public health and correct policy, but what is being asserted is that anything that causes a change to the overall mortality rate is likely about politics.