the phrase implies a campaign of specific and unrelenting harassment, where people go out of their way to bully the target unreasonably.

Of course, the reality is that people learned that SBI exists and weren't happy about what they do. SBI keeps trying to do damage control, and people keep responding to their nonsense. it would have all just blown over until people posted them essentially pulling off a protection racket, and now all of a sudden they need the journalist class to run interference for them because they might actually face legal action.