I wonder if this is human error or is it something automatic,
Yes it is, logically if the input for the transaction fees has been doing manually and there would not be a mistake like that. All of fees calculations on various exchange sites were happening automatically.
The fees amount is a complete joke to the crypto industry.
For a mistake that has been made by API or bug and this is not a complete joke, something must be investigated and fixed
Is this money laundering?
No it's, it doesn't related to the money laundering as all of ethereum already divided among the ethereum nodes or miners. How can they get their ethereum back?