hotd still runs on cable tv release. as soon as the episode premieres live, the series unlocks on hboMAX as well as global streaming services for purchase. streaming exclusives are like the old days of movie theatre premieres. for some time, threatres would actually hold a general release midnight premiere ("Thursday night but 'midnight Friday' premiere" - race for people to see the movie "first"). but then the decision was made that they this could air them a little earlier on Thursday and maximize showings for premiere date as well as maximize profit.

so for Disney+, let's say a show "premieres" on Wednesday. so somebody made the decision to globally premiere the episode at midnight pst which means 3 est and so on for the rest of the world. this premiere happens after Tuesday night and early into Wednesday morning (depending on your timezone). it's messy. and as OP pointed out, you can watch it at premiere or run the risk of seeing spoiler memes until you watch.

entertainment is being watched globally, so things had/have to be adjusted for everybody. you can see it in the evolution of online comments. there was a time "first" would be the comment to make on YouTube videos. now the thing is to devour content as soon as it's released and make that early comment on the official discussion thread. it'll keep evolving along with everything else. but yeah i do like the hotd 9pm est release, but yeah