Easy. It's a highly politicized thread, and in those sort of thread, driveby downvoting isnt uncommon, even on HN.

The conspiracy theory about the drug industry has been common forever, but it fits a more general pattern, like the Miracle Carburetor.

Obviously nobody can answer why something is downvoted, and discussing voting is discouraged, but personally, I'd like to see a controversial opinion that is original and interesting, not cliched.

Me, I wouldn't downvote something for only being wrong (IMO) or weird.

I have no idea about the amount that gets flagged, but I notice it quite a bit just by going to the front page and seeing something and if I happened to go back to it a minute later, poof, it's gone.

For calling HCQ a "$10 solution to a $10,000,000,000,000 problem". It's not.