Mislead or misleading?

Whoever wrote that is no native-speaker of English. It's a lame sentence, but it should use mislead, and not misleading. By the way, the use of de facto is inappropriate.

Thanks.
Use "in fact" instead of "de facto"?

'de facto' is a bit formal/legalistic but other than that, I don't see why it's inappropriate, Ori.

Good point.
Let's wait for Setanta's analysis.

But did it really sound sour? Or is your taste sour? Have I staged a pretentious performance? Or is your thread actually so
hilarious as to mislead you into saying something funny? So funny that you've lost your attitude of seriousness for this serious business - -
at least in my view marriage is not something to kid around about.

Thank you MontereyJack

Yes, that might be a better choice. You would want to alter the sentence somewhat, too: "Or, in fact, is your taste sour?" The use of de facto implies a comparative situation, such as: "The law requires the police to issue citations for violating the speed limit in that neighborhood, but the de facto situation is that they just stop people and give them warnings." The term originally enters English usage and become common through comparison to de jure--so that de jure is used to mean in law, and de facto is used to mean in fact: "They were required to comply de jure, but the de facto situation was that they simply didn't report."

Using de facto both implies a comparison and implies a real situation as opposed to an ideal one. So the use of it above is awkward because there is no element of the real versus the ideal.

Thanks for explaining.

Still, I am confused by your explanation. There is a comparison in the original text. The "it" in "did it really sound sour" refers to "what I said" or "my taste". So the comparison is:
You said my taste was sour? In fact, your taste was sour, not mine. That why I got confused by your explaining. And why I was encouraged by JTT's opinion - the use of de facto seems not inappropriate.

I have highlighted that portion of my response which excludes, in my opinion, the use of de facto in this situation.

de facto
adverb: in reality or fact ("The result was, de facto, a one-party system")

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M-W

de facto
: in reality : actually

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AHD

ADVERB:
In reality or fact; actually.

ADJECTIVE:
Actual: de facto segregation.
Exercising power or serving a function without being legally or officially established: a de facto government; a de facto nuclear storage facility.

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As 'de facto' can also be an adjective, how would we expect it to only be used in a comparative fashion?