But I recently submitted a link containing an uncomfortable truth from Pew Research titled "U.S. has world’s highest rate of children living in single-parent households".
It got 30 upvotes in one hour, and quickly reached the front page. It seemed to have gotten shadowbanned by a moderator, as it disappeared to the 5th page despite its quickly gained popularity. It was not flagged, or at least not normally as it would show "[flagged]". I suspect someone with special powers demoted it for whatever reason.
This was the post: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26100329
I have seen this happen many times and have wondered the same thing. It is within the within the rights of whoever runs this site, but I not sure why they believe it would be required... if that is what is happening.