If we followed this, solar panels would be much more expensive.

The energy to extract raw materials from the earth's crust does not factor in the scarcity of those elements. So as a corse example, a salt mine and an iron mine having the same value because the same energy is used to extract the mass.

I don't think the platforms are providing the bots. Platforms have the objective of increasing engagement.

Bots are being used by people, organizations and governments with goals. Usually, effectiveness is increased with more exposure, so their goal of gaming the platform algorithm to maximize engagement with their content aligns with the platform's broad objectives.

But the motives and actors are separate and distinct.

Think of the bot content as the payload, and the platform as a vulnerable service that is being hacked.

You also have to question if it is just the curated content Reddit is serving you. How is Reddit using your app behavior to create a front page for you based on your subs and such. I see a lot of content from subs that I am not part of show up in my feed.

All social media, even reddit has AI algorithms that curate content to put users in to demographic groups that can be targeted by advertisers.

They don't change the content, they change you.