The amount of bad actors that are whales, is way outnumbered by whales who don't do these things. You can almost guarantee anti-abuse guilds will start to combat these actions if found to be abusive.
The odds of people getting downvoted by whales in a system that doesn't reward them when they have most of their stake in vote bots is very doubtful. Since most high-value votes are bot votes which they help provide votes for.
Why? It's been done during the whale experiment. It didn't last. They don't do it now. I see no reason at all any that aren't now will do so just because it doesn't cost VP. The other costs of doing so will remain, and are more substantial.
I flag trash. You have received a flag.