The article says "[she] was told she should have applied for a working visa, instead of a tourist visa", so it's fair to assume she had a proper B2 tourist visa, which lets you stay for 6 months.
VWP/ESTA is a "tourist visa" in all but name, and it's much more likely that a UK citizen would be using this instead of going through the full B2 visa application rigmarole.
decimalenough|11 months ago