If really bots are being used for this, will that also contribute to the traffic metric like a normal user would?

no: bots generally use the API and, even if they went through the web ui, bot traffic doesn’t generally trigger tracking (you could write a bot that does that, but it would be extra work)

OP was about data caps on landlines… yeah, at first glance I too thought it could only be mobile

Lack of healthy competition. It’s plain to see from the other side of the ocean where I live… Is it maybe one of those things you can only see from afar?