I am not sure if this happened or not, but in my volunteer work, I have met a couple of families who have exploited a loophole in signing up for utilities in a new apartment - they sign their teenage kid up for the family’s service. DirectTV used to be more - shall I say “relaxed” - in how someone could sign up - if Mom and Dad had already signed up to get the free introductory (12 month) program they might not be eligible again, so they sign the teenage kid up. As long as the bill got paid eventually, DirectTV didn’t care - so they kept the service.
And reading the article, he deserves credit as he was instrumental in getting things changed. As a junior he lobbied the dean at Amherst to allow low-income students to get meals at the coffee shop during breaks. He understood that you can sometimes change things by asking.