That's not the definition of human subjects research. Not everything that involves a human responding to questions is human subjects research. A lot of comments in this thread are uninformed about the relevant definitions.
You can think the study is poorly designed, unethical, etc. But if they're not obtaining data about a living individual, then it's not human subjects research.
> Obtains information or biospecimens through intervention or interaction with the individual, and uses, studies, or analyzes the information or biospecimens;
They are absolutely collecting information to analyze by interacting with the individual.
You can think the study is poorly designed, unethical, etc. But if they're not obtaining data about a living individual, then it's not human subjects research.