Let me present another side to this, as I am sometimes the guy sitting on the opposite side from the developer :)
(I have no idea what happened in this specific case).
Usually, when someone does something mildly serious (we are just wrist-slappy about the minor stuff, unless you do it multiple times, or intentionally) without following the process, first I verify they actually did it without any accusation at all. This often takes the form "It looks like you did X. Is this right or am I misunderstanding?".
If they did in fact, do it, I then say "Hey, just so you know, this could be an issue. I need to talk with some folks, and then we should talk and figure out together what to do about this. You <do/don't> need to do anything in the meanwhile" . Whether they need to do anything depends on the issue, but I am explicit about whether anything needs to be done.
At this point, the reactions vary from "oh shit, sorry, i didn't realize i was supposed to something different" to "fuck the police".
In any case, despite me explicitly telling them they did not need to do anything, there are still cases where someone will do something like take the project down (sometimes intentionally believing it will force my hand, sometimes not), and claim we told them to.
I go and talk with various folks like I said I would, then the person involved, we all decide we don't care (or do), and then it gets put back (or not), or whatever modifications needed are made. Usually if it's put back, this is accompanied by text like you see, stating that they misunderstood some issues. In most cases i've dealt with, this is actually an accurate statement of what occurred, and not us trying to save face. After all, I told them they did not need to do anything!
Of course, I won't deny there are times i've told folks to hide/take down projects. But in those cases, we don't later try to save face.
I could completely see other companies not knowing what they are doing, and telling folks to take stuff down as a knee jerk. It definitely happens. But without more facts here, I wouldn't jump to the conclusion that this is what occurred.
(I have no idea what happened in this specific case).
Usually, when someone does something mildly serious (we are just wrist-slappy about the minor stuff, unless you do it multiple times, or intentionally) without following the process, first I verify they actually did it without any accusation at all. This often takes the form "It looks like you did X. Is this right or am I misunderstanding?".
If they did in fact, do it, I then say "Hey, just so you know, this could be an issue. I need to talk with some folks, and then we should talk and figure out together what to do about this. You <do/don't> need to do anything in the meanwhile" . Whether they need to do anything depends on the issue, but I am explicit about whether anything needs to be done.
At this point, the reactions vary from "oh shit, sorry, i didn't realize i was supposed to something different" to "fuck the police".
In any case, despite me explicitly telling them they did not need to do anything, there are still cases where someone will do something like take the project down (sometimes intentionally believing it will force my hand, sometimes not), and claim we told them to.
I go and talk with various folks like I said I would, then the person involved, we all decide we don't care (or do), and then it gets put back (or not), or whatever modifications needed are made. Usually if it's put back, this is accompanied by text like you see, stating that they misunderstood some issues. In most cases i've dealt with, this is actually an accurate statement of what occurred, and not us trying to save face. After all, I told them they did not need to do anything!
Of course, I won't deny there are times i've told folks to hide/take down projects. But in those cases, we don't later try to save face. I could completely see other companies not knowing what they are doing, and telling folks to take stuff down as a knee jerk. It definitely happens. But without more facts here, I wouldn't jump to the conclusion that this is what occurred.