I actually disagree with you as well. From the countless posts I have seen is they are more likely to be harsher with you if you try to enter multiple times “visa exempt”.
Maybe I am wrong, but is this not an email? Your initial question was “what does that email show?”. Then you asked if they corrected the text on the portal. It is clear that someone (or system) approved the visa and then the next day it was caught that this was a wrong. Regardless, rejected.
as he mentioned yesterday, he was approved on Friday, was able to log in and download the approval form, but then they sent a follow up email on Monday saying it was rejected and now the portal says rejected. So someone (or system) approved him incorrectly and then realized the error and rejected him the next day.