The last major holdouts in the protest against Reddit’s API pricing relented, abandoning the so-called “John Oliver rules” which only allowed posts featuring the TV host. It's the official end of the battle. The Reddit protest is over, and Reddit won.
That spreadsheet is how they make all their decisions, including things like “should we platform dangerous misinformation during a pandemic?” or “how many domestic terrorists do we allow per reactionary sub?”
When actual morality is cast aside in order to maximise profits, issues like “disappointing users” don’t stand a chance.
But the article has a pretty shallow definition of “won”, meaning “they put an end to the protests”. Given they have complete control over the platform, that was always going to be the most likely outcome.
The cost of putting down that protest is harder to see from the outside though.
Would they have “won” if they lost half their users in the process? Would they have “won” if the protest wiped millions off their value before their IPO? Have they “won” because they added another straw and the camel is still standing?
But ultimately, who cares what Gizmodos take is? They’re a for-profit media company publishing media that looks out for their own interests, which in this case is “it’s futile to try and hurt a company’s profits”, no different to any other neoliberal media empire.