I'm very unclear about what "otherwise" means in "elevating when it otherwise wouldn't be elevated". There's no natural state of how content would be displayed

I'm very unclear about what "otherwise" means in "elevating when it otherwise wouldn't be elevated". There's no natural state of how content would be displayed, any choice of how to do it would result in a moderated list that elevates something that wouldn't have otherwise been elevated with a different approach. There is no distinction to me between what YouTube and HN do, and I certainly don't think the law should treat them any differently. Both should be legally protected regardless of which specific approach it takes.