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Common narratives around spam
High fees will solve spam
False. High Bitcoin fees don't stop spammers who have been the top payer for a year+ already. They increase their profit from clogging the Bitcoin network by exploitation of Segwit mispricing and other vulnerabilities that put genuine, monetary transactions at a disadvantage.
While it is true that spammers make short-lived attempts to profit, the history shows that they keep repeating them. Their payoff depends on collection of money from gullible or over-excited people and therefore is insensitive to level of Bitcoin transaction fee. The playbook looks almost the same every time:
1. Raise funds for the operation (typically from so-called venture capital),2. Create something to gamble with (e.g. "collectibles", non-fungable-tokens - NFTs, derivatives). Give it new brand name. Advertise it, leverage industry-specific media, brands, influential figures etc. Claiming that is interesting art or technology (even better if somehow connected with Bitcoin),3. Collect money (in excess of Bitcoin transaction fees) from gullible or over-excited people duped into "investing" in faked art or technology (so-called bag holders).4. Repeat.
Cost of Bitcoin transaction fees does not impact profitability because proceeds are much larger. Victims transfer money in amounts that exceed the fees and ad campaigns. Spammers never spam without pushing narratives that provide excuses, e.g. "those cats in JPEGs are art". Spamming with random data would not be profitable.
In consequence of high fees Bitcoin is less decentralized. There are more and more "uneconomical UTXOs" with amounts that are not sufficient to cover the spam-inflated fee to transact. They are effectively removed from circulation. Their owners can't participate in the network while a few privileged ones gain exclusive access (power) what adversely affects decentralization. Segwit mispricing and other vulnerabilities make it cheaper to keep the barrier and concentrate power in fewer and fewer hands. They may be exploited (and fees remain high) as long as the struggle for power lasts.