They could grow the website just fine - it was growing the advertising (read: profits) that is the problem.
And you'll know the death-knell for reddit is here when they crack down on the porn.
Re:Kanye West is buying Parler
by TremendousJudge on Monday October 17, 2022 @12:30PM
(#33235928)
No, it wasn't just about advertising. Some types of content (piracy, child porn, etc) would get them in actual legal trouble
Re:Kanye West is buying Parler
by philippejara on Monday October 17, 2022 @04:30PM
(#33239138)
that falls under illegal content in the US which they never didn't remove. Maybe not piracy but there's plenty of piracy subreddits last I checked. What made them start changing things iirc was the backlash over the Icloud(?) celebrity nude leaks.
Here, you've solved it. "The free market", both users and advertisers, demand content moderation. If you want to attract users, you need a website that isn't a cesspool of 'toxicity'. If you don't want to drive away those who actually pay for your website (advertisers), you'll need to moderate.
Reddit has proved this out - they started out trying to say they're hands off, and they'll only remove illegal content (ignoring how troublesome that is to define for a global website), and they've slowly learned over the years that they cannot grow their website with those policies.
You could say that you don't want to grow your platform, and stay a small niche, which is totally fine. That's what gab and parlor and 4chan are. We have them already!