I might be wrong but my memory suggests that Reddit was basically forced to eventually act in the removal of that sub and they let it and many other questionable subs linger and prosper for a long time until it became too big to ignore.
Tried the official Reddit app today and boy people weren't joking when they say it sucks. I thought it'd just be the usual experience plus some ads but I was totally wrong.
The official app doesn't respect your subreddit subscriptions at all, instead force feeding you feeds of whatever their algorithm thinks will drive maximum engagement just like a shit version of Facebook. The "hot" etc functionality is completely stipped from it entirely.
I might be wrong but my memory suggests that Reddit was basically forced to eventually act in the removal of that sub and they let it and many other questionable subs linger and prosper for a long time until it became too big to ignore.