This seems like a canned retort intended for usual cases of randos complaining about how a subreddit is run. But it doesn't work in the context of this discuss

This seems like a canned retort intended for usual cases of randos complaining about how a subreddit is run. But it doesn't work in the context of this discussion; if Reddit admins don't like how a subreddit is run they don't have to "make their own sub", they can just take control of the sub they already own. Make no mistake, moderators do not own these subs, reddit owns all of them. There is no compensation deal between reddit and the moderators, the moderators have no rights from the perspective of Reddit's owners.