I'm especially annoyed on sites like reddit when the "show more comments" link is sometimes a button that will expand inline, and sometimes a link that will take you to another page with some parent comments and some of the child comments. I have to look for "javascript: void 0;" in the URL preview before clicking, which I often forget.
I recently learned that ublock origin has an annoyances filter list that's not enabled by default https://a.imagem.app/on42hV.png. not sure if it covers this use case though.
Did they imagine it would slow down scrapers/bots?
I would imagine it's for measuring engagement. They can then use the data to tailor their ad sale strategy and I imagine their content strategy.
They could turn that off for users with adblock at least. No reason to torture those who aren’t your prey – a hunters common sense.