How can a high authority website get away with this?

[RyanMeighan]

I found out a website i manage recently lost a link from Business Insider - DA 90+ ... after losing this link my DA dropped 5 points! I read the article and it is absolute GIBBERISH. the link that replaced my link actually links to a site that contains pornographic ads (jumbotrons.net).

link: https://www.businessinsider.com.au/ninth-circuit-gay-marriage-quote-2012-12

my questions:

1. how would a company this reputable with a DA 90+  be building pages like this without major penalties? (i realize it is from .au (australia) but from research they own that site too)

2. how exactly does this work? are they selling links to people? did my competitor pay them to replace my link with theirs? why create a page that sounds like robots wrote it

3. would it be a good idea for me to try to get the link back? it certainly was helping considering i lost 5 DA points when i lost the link, but it goes against everything that makes sense in what i've read about toxic links and keeping things clean

Curious to learn a little more about these dark arts!!!

[effectdigital]

"1. how would a company this reputable with a DA 90+  be building pages like this without major penalties? (i realize it is from .au (australia) but from research they own that site too)" - actually being a reputable site makes you less likelyto gain penalties rather than more likely. A smaller less reputable site doing the same thing, would be more likely to garner devaluations and / or penalties. When you become authoritative and reputable, you gain 'trust' with Google. That's a barrier which you can eat into, instead of losing performance. Imagine two people in a friendship who really trust each other, yet one betrays the other. In all likelihood, that trust will be consumed but the friendship will survive. Now imagine the same situation between two people who don't trust each other, since there's no love lost - they will say goodbye and part ways. It may be difficult for a moral, human mind to accept - but trust is a consumable resource and businesses use it as such (just how it is I'm afraid)

"2. how exactly does this work? are they selling links to people? did my competitor pay them to replace my link with theirs? why create a page that sounds like robots wrote it" - Ask them. Find your old link using Wayback Machine, show them your link existed and that it was removed and replaced with a terrible quality link. Maybe they have a rogue editor on the inside and you could bring them to justice. Maybe (instead) they'll refuse to care and they will wall up (to protect themselves). In any case, you could at least ask (without getting nasty about it, don't pick larger battles than you can win)

"3. would it be a good idea for me to try to get the link back? it certainly was helping considering i lost 5 DA points when i lost the link, but it goes against everything that makes sense in what I've read about toxic links and keeping things clean" - I'd certainly try to get it restored. Wayback Machine might be able to help you prove your case and disparage a rogue editor for illegitimate linking practices