Optional coverletter

For career website resume drops or online applications, I always see "cover letter - optional".

When they say that, do they literally mean it's optional and don't care much if you have one, or is it more along the line of "the cover letter is optional, but us reading your application is also optional so you should probably have one"?

Would be great if someone can speak to this topic either in general or specifically for morgan stanley and blackrock..

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