"We're changing this to comply with a court order / settlement." seems fine to me. I don't think anyone would be angry at them, since they didn't want to do the change nor would be "lying" to users about why they do it.

But then they wouldn't get to act like they are masters of all they survey. This way, they can continue to claim that they are always entirely in control. At least to themselves.

It's probably as banal as trying to limit future lawsuits by restricting publicity on successful past ones.

Indeed that would be a much more elegant way to go about it.