So instead they prove the conspiracy folks right that the media is willing to scrub proof of inaccurate reporting.
I generally find that anyone expecting error-free perfection in any subjective field from an entire industry can be safely dismissed as a complete idiot. Intelligent people look at the processes that produce outcomes, not the outcomes.
(In this case, the process that produced the outcome was a former DDG employee mailing in an oped of incredibly questionable quality that criticized a DDG competitor, that was eventually pulled. Wired should look into reading op-eds before publishing them.)
Admitting it was trash is proof of inaccurate reporting, whether they remove TFA or not
As for the conspiracy folks, they'll think what they want, regardless of evidence presented to them. That's the whole point.