I think the general direction you're describing is correct, but it might also be that occasionally someone at reddit looks at the front page of voat and thinks "let's not become that".
If anything, reddit's moderation policies were an attempt to curtail the channification brought by edgelord subreddits like "fat people hate", "jailbait" and eventually "The Donald". Going down that route is an entirely plausible decision but it not only alienates most normies (not to mention the demographics typically on the receiving hand of the hate and harassment embraced by these groups) but also makes a site much less appealing to advertisers or investors.
Of course Voat promoting itself as a "free speech alternative to reddit" predictably led to it mostly attracting those affected by the reddit moderation policies, which led to them becoming exactly what reddit wanted to avoid and predictably failing eventually.