I read a book called “The Puzzle Palace” about NSA. When they were ordered to stop reading telegraph copies, they simply didn’t stop but went more underground. Same with every other restriction put on them.
Since collecting metadata is all software and signals, there is no clear way to know if they stopped or not.
The NSA used to recruit my campus heavily in the 80’s (we had a very good Slavic language program and they needed translators).
Word was going around that they pretty much had a standing deal with the Brits. MI-6 would spy on our citizens, and we would spy on British subjects. Then they’d just exchange notes.