Oh come on. It's certainly "dirty" to push your app up the charts with fake downloads from bots, but this is just advertising. There are much worse things happening in the world... and in the App Store.
Plus however you might feel about apps like this, the much larger issue is that Apple is now pulling apps it doesn't like. While it's of course within their rights, this really shouldn't be just happening like this. With over 400 million or so iOS devices out there, even if it's no monopoly, there should be some regulation to prevent Apple from screwing around like this. There is a difference between rejecting apps based on an intransparent process and pulling apps afterwards because they don't fit with your business model.
I would agree, that if Apple had somehow managed to obtain a monopolistic position in mobile, such that people didn't have any real alternative to their platform, and they had to chose iOS if they wanted a smart phone, that it might be reasonable to put some restrictions on what they enforced people to do with their ecosystem. With monopoly market power, comes greater responsibilities (at least in the United States - but similar legal theories exist in other countries).
But, I think we can all agree, that Apple does not have a monopoly on the mobile platform, and, there is in fact at least one reasonable alternative (Android) - Some might go so far as to suggest that Microsoft's "Windows Phone" platform, and, for that matter, even Blackberry could be considered reasonable alternatives to the iOS platform.
And, regardless, 5.6 is pretty clear, ""Apps cannot use Push Notifications to send advertising, promotions, or direct marketing of any kind."" - If anything, Apple has simply failed to chase down all of the other apps that are doing this.
Regulation? Do you _really_ want to open the door for further Government regulation of tech? How about: if you're building something important (e.g. software that forms the basis of a 45-employee business), don't use iOS.
These days, there is zero excuse for being ignorant of the way the software 'market' for iOS works. Which means that companies that continue to depend upon iOS software sales are either taking an incredible gamble, or simply aren't performing any sort of risk analysis as part of their business process.
Plus however you might feel about apps like this, the much larger issue is that Apple is now pulling apps it doesn't like. While it's of course within their rights, this really shouldn't be just happening like this. With over 400 million or so iOS devices out there, even if it's no monopoly, there should be some regulation to prevent Apple from screwing around like this. There is a difference between rejecting apps based on an intransparent process and pulling apps afterwards because they don't fit with your business model.