Lemmy is no different than reddit when it comes to mods abusing their power. People here think they're all different and better than, but that's just because they haven't had an independent thought and non-conforming to Lemmy opinion so they don't have to deal with it.
They did not in this case, it was a reply to @Mango's comment that is still there. They even messaged me to ask if I'd deleted that comment, which is how I found out that it was deleted.