Notice there is only 1 full headline (from /r/NoStupidQuestions) visible, it doesn't even show the full post. There are 3 of those "trending" boxes but only 2 of those even fit their headlines because they are like 3 words long, they cut off anything longer including the description
I originally became addicted to Reddit because of how streamlined it was to skim dozens of headlines and pick from lots of content, seems they have decided content is not something they want to provide anymore :/
Designers want to get promoted, or get good bonuses for having impact. Product Managers are similarly incentivized to make changes, to improve some metric that they believe helps their business. If these structures exist, and the people making changes don't understand what the users want, or their incentives are misaligned... it's inevitable