The article is from 2023. And yes, the world did move on to using just `<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">` for a pretty long time.
It didn't, I posted this link out of frustration being unable to zoom into cool pics in some articles shared here on HN. In fact, most blogs/articles still have zoom disabled.
I think you are right. We should get rid of that whole line. If a user sets a specific zoom/scale of their choosing, let's just respect it and let it be.