The conspiracy theory explanation for this is that the mods are actually government assets and censored the stories in order to make their handlers happy. I don't believe that this is consistent with the history of the NSA leaks on reddit so far, given that most of the other NSA stories have been highly visible and upvoted, though some have been deleted infrequently.
Perhaps this isn't so far fetched after all, though. I checked the front pages of CNN, ABC, MSNBC, and FoxNews, and found zero mention of the NSA whatsoever, nevermind the explosive reveal of COINTELPRO style operations against the internet public.
Perhaps this isn't so far fetched after all, though. I checked the front pages of CNN, ABC, MSNBC, and FoxNews, and found zero mention of the NSA whatsoever, nevermind the explosive reveal of COINTELPRO style operations against the internet public.