Ok I could see this except for one thing I found out recently. "Long-existing hosting companies" have traded hands a bunch of times. Wild West Domains, Tucows, etc are like 6 different owners removed from the founders at this point. Sometimes the founders are kept on, but more as a figurehead who isn't supposed to ask detailed questions about what does and doesn't go on.
One of the better documented cases of hosting companies being a proxy for intelligence wars was the 2017 lawsuit Namecheap filed against eNom and Tucows. Long story short, Namecheap was supposed to be US intelligence, and eNom and Tucows were unknown/unnamed other intelligence group/agency [1].
If it's "one of the better documented cases of hosting companies being a proxy for intelligence wars", can you provide any documentation of that? Your link describes a bog-standard spat between companies when one leaves a business relationship with the other.
It's also not a particular secret that hosting companies operate under multiple brands, buy others and at the same time new ones pop up regularly.
One of the better documented cases of hosting companies being a proxy for intelligence wars was the 2017 lawsuit Namecheap filed against eNom and Tucows. Long story short, Namecheap was supposed to be US intelligence, and eNom and Tucows were unknown/unnamed other intelligence group/agency [1].
[1] - https://domainnamewire.com/2017/09/01/namecheap-sues-enom-tu...