The fact that they gave out L4D2 and not any other game says otherwise. Its like they were "OK we raked in enough cash with minimal effort so we don't care about any more sales, so we'll give it out for free as a PR stunt".
They gave out their latest game, and in some cases gave out two copies to some people as well, so they have someone as a friend to play along with them as well.
Hardly a double-faced move. Not to mention they stated their premier anti-cheat system (which they also sell) bugged out by another Valve product, Steam.