To be fair, the article does say:

>> But I didn't know this factoid.

If you Google define:factoid, you'll see the definitions are like "something resembling a fact; unverified (often invented) information that is given credibility because it appeared in print".

Looking at the suffix "-oid", it makes sense that the definition is akin to "similar to a fact."

However, I don't think that's what the author intended. "Factoid" has come to mean, "a little fact", it seems.