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The parent comment raises a valid distinction.

> In contrast, a heuristic is an approach to solving problems without well-defined correct or optimal results.[2] For example, although social media recommender systems are commonly called "algorithms", they actually rely on heuristics as there is no truly "correct" recommendation.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algorithm

What are the consequences of conflating the two terms? I’m not sure yet.

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> The parent comment raises a valid distinction.

Not really, as described in the quote you shared, it is common to refer to "recommendation systems" as "algorithms", even if its not actually such a thing.

There are plenty of examples of well-known aliases to concepts that obfuscate actual meaning in the English language, but they aren't wrong, as language is usage.

It’s actually not such a thing. So is the distinction valid or not?

It depends how pedantic you’re feeling.

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