90 percent of Reddit users are casual lurkers with no account. Of the ten percent with accounts, 10 percent actually post content or even leave a comment.

Driving away lurkers with stupid content is a solid strategy

Yeah, I've seen some people upset about these things and complain that it doesn't stop the flow of traffic, and that in fact it may increase interest in Reddit. Some want the blackout to continue indefinitely. But that's impossible since Reddit will just force the subs open and replace the mods. So the next best thing is malicious compliance. Sure, Reddit will still see traffic from people curious about what's going on, but these meme-y protests is still rendering the site essentially unusable while still keeping to the letter of Reddit's demands.

I actually think that for a lot of people, it's just become an opportunity for socializing and entertaining themselves, more so than being about "protest." A lot of modern reddit is oriented around (1) wasting time with humor and (2) being part of an in-group.

spez did the worst thing you can possibly do to that kind of population: He gave them a target.

What it does do is actively highlight that the community is being destroyed, and the protests are actively degrading the experience. All the more to entice people to look around at other social media options.