Some time ago there was a scandal because apparently they create profiles for content creators which aren't signed up on their platform and accept money on their behalf. Afterwards Brave spouted very dubious arguments with things like ominous legalese to HN comments with an "trust us, we're nerds too" vibe.

From a cynical perspective, it looked a lot like smoke and mirrors from an entity currently sitting on a pile of money acquired by impersonating people.

Isn't this anyway their own tokens? So no matter whether the providers do have an own account or not, if they don't cash it out then there's no cost to brave. So its.just that they were incorrectly giving the impression that someone is getting paid?

Yes, except when that person doesn't get paid, instead Brave gets that money.

That's not true. The tokens are returned the user. Those tokens may come from the User Growth Pool as well.