Also, lots of words start off as acronyms and then lose that status. ‘Laser’ is a good example: originally ‘Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation’, but now always written in lowercase.

But we generally only do that for acronyms that become familiar and well know (scuba, taser, etc). The article itself feels the need to spell out what it stands for and putting it in lower case just reeks of trying to manufacture that familiarity and the legitimacy such familiarity carries.