That’s a recent quote from Reddit’s VP of community, Laura Nestler. Here’s more of it: This week, Reddit has been telling protesting moderators that if they keep their communities private, the company will take action against them. Any actions could happen as soon as this afternoon.
R/popular was created not long before Trump was president. Either 2015 or 2016. My understanding is it was partially a response to the_donald flooding r/all.