Sounds like “virtue signalling” has the same definition as “hipster” did in the early 00s - a proxy for “something or someone I don’t like”

It’s certainly sometimes used that way. But the real meaning is something like „making sure everyone knows how moral you are without making a lot of effort to actually be moral, just by telling everyone“.

By that definition the linked article doesn't fit, then. The author has put a lot of effort into research and writing about this subject. The "morality" part is a relatively small part of it, just a single paragraph in the conclusion.

I’m not saying that it’s virtue signaling, I was just criticizing the bad arguments against the claim that it was.

These days the word is "woke" or any of its variants.

I struggle to differentiate commenters muttering "radical wokeism", "virtue signalling", etc from dogs barking at cars.

Non constructive noise from creatures with desire only to chase something.