Not sure.
But if someone would make thread complaining about me specifically or about someone paying me, then I would not use moderation tools in that thread. Maybe except extreme, blatant and urgent cases like someone posting scam links or porn images.
That linked thread was not ideal, starting from something that was happening in 2017 is not too useful.
But someone employed by HOT (not checked is this claim a true one) should not be closing thread criticizing HOT.
On the other hand, if someone would make 4chan level insult thread about OSM then it should be closed, despite all moderators having conflict of interest as involved in OSM so it should not be absolute and overly broad.