Surely this would be the Reddit admins banning the subreddit? I can't imagine the mods banning their own subreddit, if that's even possible.

for free

I absolutely assure you that Reddit is getting paid for this shit. Spez doesn't lift a finger without a string attached.

they’re protecting the interests of people who make more money in a single year than they’ll make in their entire lifetime

They're the loyal dogs of the corporate elite because they get the scraps thrown from the table. And when you've got a $25T table, those are some very nice scraps.