It isn't to turn Spez's head, but Reddit's owners.

I wouldn't be surprised if board members are looking this whole debacle to see where it lands before the IPO. Reddit still isn't profitable, and the killing of API access doesn't seem like it will earn the money to be worth this aggravation. Spez is making a very public bet regarding API.

And I don't think Lemmy is ready to become the new Reddit. There are still too many foundational issues that need to be resolved that would crush Lemmy in its current form.