I think what the grandparent wanted to say is that every sharp S (ß) in the article should actually be Beta (β). The article probably refers to a certain slide[0] Jonah Peretti's presentation[1] "Mormons, Mullets and Maniacs" which actually uses a sharp S in italics. Seems to me like it should be a Beta indeed, especially since using a sharp S in this context would be rather unusual as far as I can tell.

[0]https://amp.businessinsider.com/images/4c655d457f8b9a711c7d0...

[1]http://www.businessinsider.com/jonah-perettis-awesome-viral-...

What do you mean "nο"? The mix up here is that the equation given uses a symbol which is visually similar to a different symbol, in a confusing manner. In all my experience I don't think I've ever seen someone use ß (not beta) as a variable name, whereas it would be totally idiomatic to use beta there. There's no rule against it, but it looks like a mistake, or deliberate confusion. Did you notice that the word "no" in the first line used a lowercase omicron?

I checked the source [0] and that does indeed use ß, so I was wrong to blame the author of the piece. I now blame Jonah Peretti.

[0] https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/1158576/pages/uf-...