You see the same effect in the cottage industry built around "cracking the code" and getting hired in these sort of companies. They produce marketing/video content that endlessly repeats "grind leetcode and 3 other simple tips" for getting hired, and then they insist that this is the exact and only reason they got hired (rather than plain luck or some reference), so everyone outside looking in emulates and internalizes this idea as the exact and only way hiring could possibly be effective and "fair". Eventually those practices just become the norm and people are blind to alternatives.

What was once considered a test of "intelligence" and skill in coding (whether a true assumption or not) has just become a test of "how much is a person willing to struggle to earn entry into our hallowed halls". Actual potential ability in the role is secondary to getting the role.

This is a great point. As companies get bigger you can find HR actually codifies the behavior as part of their efforts to reduce unconscious bias in the hiring process. So you end up with developers, who know this is a flawed system, perpetuating it because the rules require it.