It's comparing Honey's behavior to a well-known and comprehended scandal. Simile is a tried and tested way (hah!) to explain otherwise potentially hard to understand or dry content.
It's not about the severity of the impact, its the fact that they were breaking the rules and explicitly coding to actively avoid being caught by testers.
Probably better to compare to ubers grayball although that may be less well known.
choult: The factors you mention are the factors that led me to propose the "Honey's Dieselgate" title and to compare Honey to VW.
Of course I agree that health is more important than affiliate commissions. So the comparison only goes so far.