Hi Bella, it is all about traffic top to rank higher.

Medium saw an opportunity to hit 1 MILLION paying subscribers. Free advertising via accounts like Remi helped them get there and then some.

It all about getting traffic (eyes) to the MEDIUM site. She is not monetizing from that traffic, they are not going to stop the gravy train of possible new subscribers. Check her followers. They all follow each other. All have huge accounts. Imagine the traffic they generate? Fake or not.

All this traffic helps MEDIUM rank higher on GOOGLE / search engines. The hotter the traffic, the more Google sends Medium's way.

Thank you for your thorough response to why it matters to keep this activity in check. It will backfire one day.