I think the real question here is what you can or cannot believe.
I expect that if Google answered this question any other way, they would be opening up a pretty nasty can of worms.
We question everything they say because there have been too many times that the evidence point the opposite way.
We have also taken into consideration our geographical elements that may affect the parameter actually being in effect. So in other words do the same rules apply in the UK as they do in the US, or is there a delay.
Either way, with respect to this argument, I know people on both sides of the pond, Spain, Germany and the Netherlands that are currently practising this bh technique successfully. (yes – affiliates)
If google is changing this, then they need to get it out across all of their dc’s.