[somenameforme]

The article is misleading or misinformed. There are numerous cheap consumer drones that can go miles high. The hardware is more than capable of it - it's just the firmware that's crippled, but it can be modded. You can also just make them quite easily. Here's [1] a video of a guy with a homemade drone that hit a height > 40k feet, along with links to buy the exact parts. It's almost certainly just people trolling, because it's somewhat predictably turning into the Great Balloon War of 2023, part 2.

[1] - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6QL0VjqYgI