I don't think it's far fetched at all! It had occurred to me, too. I'm surprised that Medium hadn't stated as much themselves. I actually spoke with staff about this on a couple of occasions, and they claimed that the decision so far had led to a surge in new memberships. I'm cynical of that. I've certainly seen a sharp decrease in the amount of external traffic I receive. I think I have possibly noticed an increase in new users on the platform, but they don't typically seem like the sorts of users we want to attract lol. And whether they're here, as Medium states, because these three reads have been taken away I doubt.

And by the way, you do at least have the ability to share your "friend link" for articles to your social media accounts so friends and family can read that way, but it can't then be reshared, so it's pretty limited. Hope that helps a little!