Potentially they are yes, but the EIP could reduce any profits from the buyers (some may not care) and they could be discouraged without downvotes. Haejin will carry on regardless though, unless those rewards start to take a dent via the actions of others.
Im afraid what bot owners might do.
The guy i mentioned a few posts ago where you commented, a year ago came into the dtube discord and threatened Heimin and Nannal when he thought they would introduce a change that would be slightly detrimental to bot vote buyers. (Cant remember what it was exactly)
Once the bots get those free downvotes all hell could break loose since, as that guy said, the shittier the content the better off bot owners are and im sure there will be those that will try and fight to take the trending back from absolute vote buying domination.