“I can’t replicate” does not disprove the behavior. Reddit blocks me from loading almost any post while logged out[0], faking that they’re NSFW. The person next to me does not have this “feature.”

I believe companies use feature flagging in this way (for years!) to avoid scrutiny of these dark patterns. You, of course, may also be right that it was coincidence.

[0] https://imgur.com/a/49dGCnX