It reads like a hit piece to get people to switch away from Edge in case they think it's the same thing as IE. Everyone still calls it "IE", even though they're referring to Edge.
Citation? Is this actually a thing?
Honestly I don’t believe you, mostly because your scenario involves people actually using Edge in sufficient volume that “everyone calls it IE” is supposed to be a meaningful thing.
Now admittedly most of those people aren't using Edge, but that has a lot to with them thinking it Internet Explorer.
I'm shocked.