Ordinarily I would disagree, assuming that they must be privvy to data that no one else is and are making carefully calculated decisions.
But with the way that Reddit leadership just continued to make misstep after misstep throughout this whole debacle, when all they had to do was just say/do nothing and wait for everything to blow over, I can only assume their corporate strategy right now is 100% improvised and not calculated.
Almost all subreddits signed up for just a 2-day protests and were going to return to normal after that. It was only because of how Reddit/spez acted in the wake of all this that they’re experiencing the resistance they are now.
NSFW subreddits are a black hole in terms of advertising potential. No mainstream company wants their products on display next to porn.
A big subreddit like /r/pics going NSFW, with its absolutely massive userbase, takes out a large chunk of Reddit’s potential advertising appeal.