So is this an incredible influx of bot accounts? For what, spamming links? I haven't encountered any yet, is there a system already in place to fend this off?

I guess the openness of the registration process and instance creation would invite this low effort type of attack. I also bumped in a post that reported community name squating, where accounts were creating empty communities with popular subreddit names in order to sell them later on I guess? I just don't see the actual benefit of it, it seems more of an oppurtinistic play more than anything else.

That's what it seems like to me too. Plus there is nothing stopping admins of instances transferring ownership in these situations.