Check the modlog for proof, a discussion post about moving this instance to an instance that shan't be named now got removed for "linking to instance featuring pedo content".
Ironically that exact possibility was reason for the discussion in the first place so seeing it happen this quickly is a bit funny.
Not sure how best to go about linking to said instance since it seems to get your content removed. DM's would be the only solution I guess but not sure if those are checked as well.
I think that it's worth trying #1 because I genuinely think that Arthur Besse is simply being overprotective, and using a "better safe than sorry" approach, and the reason why he might believe that [the anime instance] has CSAM is Dessalines' github claim. In the meantime, Dessalines and Nutomic already discussed this, and even decided to re-allow the instance in the Join Lemmy page.
As such, I don't see stupidity or maliciousness from their part; just a broken telephone game. This means that they might listen to reason.
I mean yeah let's try it absolutely, just doubtful it'll work.