I keep seeing people talk about "nepotism" at Big Tech companies. Is this really a thing? Or are they using it loosely to say people who know influential people

I keep seeing people talk about "nepotism" at Big Tech companies. Is this really a thing? Or are they using it loosely to say people who know influential people get better positions within the company? Which, btw is true of any company. That's part of what office politics is about.