Of course the admins will claim this isn't the case, but there's no reason to believe them, and lying is commercial companies' standard modus operandi.
This is bog standard HN moderation and has zero to do with "business partners", whoever those are.
Edit: please see https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36005783 also.
No, it's flagged because it's one of those controversial political topics that often leads to polarized slapfights and flamewars.
And that's proven by the a number of inflammatory, flamebait comments already in this thread.
Now that you (and others) have flagged the thread, the people with showdead on will see that it has happened yet again, and they just might seek out a place where an actual discussion can be had.