Incorrect. The term "operating system" refers to software written by Richard Stallman and GNU. The "Linux kernel" is not "the heart" of anything! It is merely a component in the Emacs software suite.

Information that is not independently verifiable does not belong in an encyclopedia.

True, but the problem is how Wikipedia defines "verifiability". In most cases I have encountered it was used in the "it was printed on paper" sense, it didn't matter if the source was trustworthy, a press release or any other incorrect crap, as long as it was paper.

In a variation on that, I had an addition repeatedly rejected because my source was the Wall Street Journal. I was told that that publication didn't meet Wikipedia standards for reliability!