Not even close.
VPN involves:
* Knowledge of the purpose of a VPN
* Knowledge of a specific VPN
* Money to pay for VPN
* Maintenance in the form of turning it on/off depending on application
* A method of digitally paying your bill, i.e. a credit card.
In contrast, if you know nothing about computers but open IE/Edge for the first time you'll be prompted to select your search engine.
The article is about Google sharing someone's private searches with the police.
My use of sic erat scriptum means I'm quoting GP, grammatical errors and all. This point, in contrast to the previous one, is pedantic :). (One doesn't share information to someone, but with them. "Google doesn't sell your personal information to, nor share it with, anyone" or "Google doesn't sell or share your personal information" are more correct.)