What they’re really hoping is for more mobile users to be forced into the official app, not the desktop. Desktop people can choose Old.Reddit (for now) and block some or all ads. Mobile users on the app provide a ton of marketable data, including, if I’m not mistaken, location data at least while the app is open. They want the user data and to sell Reddit Premium or ads to users, because there’s otherwise no path to profitability. What they have now is a very slim chance of profit, but their analysts must be huffing that hopium, because they alienated a massive amount of their biggest users, which is who made the site what it is.