Several days ago, Freenode modified its off-topic use policy forbidding "inappropriate advertising" to read, "Off topic channels are required to act in good faith in accordance to the Freenode community as a whole," and defined inappropriate advertising to include "unused channels for the purpose of polluting the channel list results."
Thus, it appears that Freenode has chosen to interpret its rules in a way that disallows the promotion of competing services, a stance similar to that articulated by Apple in its iOS App Store Review Guidelines.
"A little over an hour ago, a user or bot named 'Freenodecom' stormed into the Freenode channels for Gay Geeks that I have been a part of for over two decades," said Laurence Berland, a former Google engineer, via Twitter. "The topic was changed, the ownership of the channel was revoked."