That's definitely a potential pitfall.
In this particular case, I think it is more that he has some focused preconceived notions, and is making the players guess what will work and what won't, with little guidance or feedback.
He's certainly doing that with his major adventure elements. He seems to think he's running a sandbox, but it is populated more like a linear adventure, and his telegraphing of where the interesting stuff has been insufficient. End result is PCs wandering around waiting to stumble upon the plot, so to speak.
The real problem is that the guy thinks he's the greatest GM that ever was, is considering doing it "professionally", with livestreams and such, but he hasn't actually run a game in like a decade, and he will not talk to anyone about how to improve his game.
Edit to add: I see the :wow: emoji - yes, this guy is a poster child for this thread. If he could drop his ego and talk with me for an hour or two, I could help him shake out so many problems.