Everything in the article screams that they did not know what they were doing. Why would you think that a company using a $25 Adafruit HAT that could be found

Everything in the article screams that they did not know what they were doing. Why would you think that a company using a $25 Adafruit HAT that could be found for a magnitude less elsewhere would be using cheap LED matrices? Put another way, what from the article gives you enough confidence to say that they would have used cheaper parts?