#lemmy is starting to reverse the spam account problem. See users graph here https://fedidb.org/current-events/threadiverse
From what I’ve gathered, many of these accounts never actually materialised as they never went through email verification. How many I’m not sure. Nor did any spam problem eventuate (yet?). Either way, it seems the targeted instances are getting on top of the problem.
The articles about how the fediverse is dying have been around as long as the fediverse has been.