I don't think the issue at hand is even bid bots and paid for upvotes, but rather bad algorithms that allow junk content to rise to the surface. This platform needs to re-evaluate its ranking algorithms and stop rewarding spammers with visibility.
As long as the ranking of content is tied to upvotes, nothing will change. Happily resteemed this, thanks for sharing :)
RE: Here is how the Steemit Trending Page would look like without Bid Bots and Self Votes! (04.04.2018)