If NYT does the selection and curation then it's not. Same way opinion piece inspired by what author heard from other people is not a platform for those people.

NYT Opinion page is not a “public square”

In America at least, there are different sets of rules for different types of business.

A curated opinion piece, carefully chosen by experienced editors, is vastly different from a public swimming pool. For the first, that filter, that exclusivity, that editorializing is part of the draw. It’s good because it’s a filter, not a platform. The public pool should not be a filter, and yes, sometimes there are weird things that float in there, and it takes effort to clean up, but that’s the cost of being open to the public.

Are you arguing (consistent with your comment above) that NYT-O must publish all submissions?