So many comments in here, I haven't read them all. I have some conjecture.

First, the AI scrapers already have Reddit's most valuable content ... their "virgin" data from the pre-LLM years. All new content is worth substantially less and much harder to differentiate / filter between bots/AI and real human interaction done without AI.

Second, the search engines that used to help drive users to Reddit mostly all have AI summaries / AI answers right there on the main search page these days. A lot of people read those AI results, get what they want right from Google (or otherwise), and never click any links over to Reddit.

Third, Reddit has expanded into other regions besides the western / us-centric world, such as India. The simplest way to put this is that the content and users from those regions costs Reddit US users and by extension advertising dollars.

Fourth, the corporate team's decision making is bad enough to be harmful / fatal in and of itself. It's sheer luck they've done as well as they have this long. Corporate is not only the worst enemy of users and communities, they're also their own worst enemy. It's so bad that if one of them was a competitor or adversary that had infiltrated the company in a covert operation to destroy it or gum it up, you wouldn't be able to tell the difference.