just get residential botnets to watch ur youtube channel click all the adds u dont need many bots..There are many ways to monetize things.

Governments just run sim farms etc. they dont need to use this kind of approach for political influece. Not to say that some dont but generally they will not be stealing accounts. (most bots involved in campaigns to get trump in his seat were not stolen accounts)

I suspect that politicians right before elections may pay more than standard gambling. They gamble with much higher stakes.

On that level, power and control trumps profit

It's more profitable because it allows you to select political perspectives that allow you, the scammer and or gambler, to scam or gamble harder.

It doesn’t need to be profitable if it’s cheap - political manipulation by unsavory parties is worth a cheap botnet if it means they can keep power and keep grifting.

I will agree with a sibling up there that the political part is pure speculation, and I’d guess anyone running a moderately sized botnet is open to use for any nefarious purposes if the price is right.

a kind of

You'd be surprised as how there's individuals and organizations willing to pay a lot of money to do political manipulation / influencing.