Unless the post has been edited since, I don't see anywhere in the post where says the word lie.

As to your second point, it depends on how the number is being presented. If it's being shown as the number of recommendations, then including the number of comments is clearly inaccurate. A comment disagreeing with an article does say something as a useful metric, but it certainly isn't a recommendation.

Not a particularly big deal in the long run, but I still think the article has a point.