Years ago they did not delete accounts. They would deactivate it and never delete the data. They do now (apparently), but in the past they were very openly not deleting anything.
Yes, I read it. I took it as meaning that they either read something else which was unclear, or just deactivated the account, or misremember what Facebook said at the time.
Do we know that Facebook actually deletes accounts now?
Years ago they did not delete accounts. They would deactivate it and never delete the data. They do now (apparently), but in the past they were very openly not deleting anything.