Are moderators allowed to proactively regulate content?

Title. Are moderators able to use their judgement to deal with threads, or are they restricted to the voting system and player reports?

In the picture attached, there are two threads (on Hot sorting's first page) that clearly break the following rule:

Don’t be a jerk

We’re aiming for the most sportsmanlike gaming community in the world, in-game and out. Just because you’re anonymous doesn't give you a license to be an asshat. Posts that walk over the line will be deleted. Repeat offenders may be permanently kicked out.

Moderators will take action against the following:

Players posting content that would seen as extremely offensive to others Players attacking an individual or group in a way that could be considered severe Players making baseless complaints or contesting private matters that isn't relevant to an active discussion

One of them has been up for 18 hours and has almost 90 comments, most of which are outright against the OP's post. I think it's awesome how fast the moderators are able to react to player reports, but I have to wonder whether they rely exclusively on said reports or if they are able to be somewhat autonomous.

TL;DR, are moderators allowed to take initiative on removing posts, or do they rely on reports? Either way is fine, I'm just curious.