FYI this being part of "April Cools" series heavily implies it's not a real tech issue but a riff on the "We can only send an email within 500 km" / "Can't print on Tuesdays" kind of articles.
1. u/obi1kenobi told me it was a real thing that happened to him
2. The point of April Cools is that the things aren't jokes. They're real essays written with care, just outside of the author's usual writing topics. Some of the other ones we got this year are about hydroponics, current events in Sumo wrestling, parenting, and decaf coffee.
The org name April Tools was right there!
The post’s disclaimer (and April Cool’s site itself) both imply that the goal is to touch on novel topics and should be genuine content of the author. That said, this story could clearly be apocryphal.