Large media companies frequently own many different papers, tv stations, radio stations, or sites, so it's not surprising a company might make the decision on a corporate basis to shut it down on all their sites. I can't say I noticed more comments disabled in 2020 than in say 2018 when the New York Times took theirs down permanently.
A lot of them coordinated the disabling of comments during or at the start of the plandemic. Not an accident.
Large media companies frequently own many different papers, tv stations, radio stations, or sites, so it's not surprising a company might make the decision on a corporate basis to shut it down on all their sites. I can't say I noticed more comments disabled in 2020 than in say 2018 when the New York Times took theirs down permanently.