I understand your frustration. I think the “Principle of Charity” might be helpful for discussions like these—where the subject might be counter-intuitive. 
I think that both you, @anon82677111, and others, raise important points! For instance:
-
As @anon82677111 argues, the right to privacy depends on sufficient security. In comparisons between mainstream tools, like Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge, which have a well-documented history of unethical practices (PDF), and specific alternatives, there might be good reason to say that the loss in security is too severe for particular threat models. So, while they are major offenders against people’s privacy, there might be certain cases where even they are still preferable.
-
However, as you rightly point-out, the Privacy Guides website is respected—among other reasons—for its rigorous evaluation and selective recommendation of options (e.g. web browsers). So, I agree that it’s important to consider whether advising on “configuring Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge” is right to do (or can be done at all, without it seeming like an endorsement).
Personally, I think that it might be simple enough to advise on these browsers with explicit warnings about their ethical history (say, with warning admonitions). However, I think a more pressing issue is that it might create an educational design which works against the reader: not everyone reads the whole website, or even whole articles, and including these guides might devalue our actual recommendations.
Consider skimming-through the tables-of-contents and seeing that “hey, there’s a Google Chrome section as well as Brave. I installed a privacy extension I saw on YouTube. They’re probably just gonna say that.”
Obviously, we have no control over what visitors do or should read, but I think that optimizing the structure of information is essential to enabling them—however they might interact with the site. Will it stop these cases? Almost definitely not. Are they likely? Probably not. Is it an important part of writing UX? Yes, almost definitely.
This is a wider point, though (see this thread for more discussion).
The inevitable takeaway is @matchboxbananasynergy’s point: this forum is not a reflection of Privacy Guides or the team’s advice (including this reply)! It’s just our discussion, and it can be a tricky process.