let's not lose sight of the real story here.
Absolutely . The controller just follows the local rules he has been trained for and instructed to do . SFO ,like many other US airports are operated with a waver from the FAA to go below normal separation minima. on APP.
The problem here is that the CX crew appears not prepared ( or even trained) for the unusual approach situation handed over to them , acerbated by the heading problems, those could be explained by fatigue or stress ( look at the R/T speed delivery ) or more likely both combined.
To their discharge, to maintain in a wide-body visual separation with an aircraft less than a Mile away is not something you do everyday outside of the USA..
Now that said, both aircraft always had vertical separation at all times anyway, so nobody was really at risk here , so let's keep things into perspective.