Would we be upset if they told the moderators "try to promote things that will be shared/upvoted a lot", and tied their earnings to how good they did at picking

Would we be upset if they told the moderators "try to promote things that will be shared/upvoted a lot", and tied their earnings to how good they did at picking winners? Even if the effect was precisely the same? Basically, what seems to have happened is someone worded it crassly, but they were just telling them to think like marketing people, and use common sense. Also, the word "suppression" implies censorship and heavy handedness, while "promote" seems harmless. But they can really be describing the same process.