The article is correct that most VPN ads are full of lies, but that doesn't mean that people don't still need them.
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VPNs are not the security panacea that marketers would have you think they are. Using a VPN does provide some obfuscation as to your origin, but it does change your trust model. The VPN service provider may tunnel your traffic through your ISP to hide data from the ISP, but now it's visible to the VPN service provider instead.
There are plenty of use cases for a VPN, but just like any other technology or service, you need to know what it actually does so you know what it actually achieves or doesn't achieve.
The big issue right now is that VPN services servers IP are getting massively banned from multiple platforms. There should something new araise to help on this.
A good use for a VPN is getting around CGNAT, however what most VPN providers have is useless for that because they don't allow client to client or inbound connections.