But then I’d expect a “load more” button to expand a new level, and fetch those comments, leaving the rest in tact. Not to go to a new page and only show a subset of the comments yo want to load and hide the comments it displayed just a click away.

Instead the new page is rather short and has a completely different post at the bottom. It’s all about engagement. And more ads. But I hide em, so no idea where these are.