"We are not in the business of giving that [Reddit's content] away for free."

but...you are spez. That's what social media is. A useful medium with a value determined by the size of its network. Restricting access makes your network less valuable.

Honestly treating hosting like for-profit media company is the biggest delusion of the 2010s-20s. It really only works in a system like email (see:fediverse) or maybe a wikipedia and Internet Archive nonprofit model.