I disagree. Steem has always been about "who you know" and after HF21 it is even more so that way. One of the key reasons I have always been a supporter of bidbots is because of my understanding of how economic disparity happens.

Economic disparity is not a social challenge, its a feature of the laws of nature. Specifically, economic disparity is directly related to the power of networks. Human networks work in such a way that "who you know" makes all the difference in how many opportunities come your way. If your parent is a famous actor there is a good chance that you can get some acting role in your lifetime if you want one.

Economic disparity is correlated with your human network effect. On Steem, this is especially true for people. You might toss an upvote here or there to a stranger with a nice post, but in all likelihood you have a circle, and the members of that circle experience upvotes from you far more often.

Now, as newcomers arrive their network effect is 0, so they have to build it up. Commenting helps, but still, you will have to do a lot of commenting and a lot of posting quality content before your network effect is of much value. People simply need to know that you exist and that you are likeable, which is not all that easy to do quickly.

The upvote services provided people with the opportunity to grow their human network rapidly, putting their posts/ideas before many eyes right away. That is a good thing, and now that is gone.

If people want equality, they need to understand that economic disparity is directly related to human networks. The more people that know you the more opportunities will come your way. Thus, an upvote service increases the odds of people making new connections with other people and widening their human network, which can improve equality among the community members of Steem.

But hey, the bot services are doomed now, so whatevs...