yes it is about hard money, it always is at its core, and what you are seeing is a natural reaction of a failure in valuation of a part of the operation.

this has happened before, reddit admins think "they" are the equity, when in reality its the subs, thier content and those operators that are the equity.

Some of these structural changes are in an attempt to "fix" that, the site is turning toward devaluing content posted in threads over things that keep you scrolling and clicking.

Its always been a slow hostile takeover for the better part of the last decade, anyone whose been around expected this day to come eventually.