Huffman has said, “We are not in the business of giving that [Reddit’s content] away for free.” That stance makes sense. But it also ignores the reality that all of Reddit’s content has been given to it for free by its millions of users. Further, it leaves aside the fact that the content has been orchestrated by its thousands of volunteer moderators.
touché
The application requirements are merely a way to manage growth and keep bots out. Defederation is also an essential management tool that all major instances are utilising. Both of these are being used to restrict bots and trolling.