"Activists said they expect"; which activists? Why do they have that expectation? Language like this would be flagged in places like wikipedia.
Did you mean NY Times?
I too also hate when this sort of language is used. Typically it's "Twitter thinks" or "Facebook reacts" when the correct terminology should be "These 3 users on Twitter" or "This specific person on Facebook".
80k views is nothing to sniff at, but that's hardly "viral".
Not really the same as what you're talking about, but I was reminded because it's another example of lazy use of language by journalists.
I think we're in agreement here; stop lazy journalism.