It actually isn't a sensible reason to downlevel. Let's think about it this way. I apply to Xibalba Corp. for a Senior Dev position. You're a recruiter at Xiba

It actually isn't a sensible reason to downlevel. Let's think about it this way. I apply to Xibalba Corp. for a Senior Dev position. You're a recruiter at Xibalba Corp. and you use YoE to rank candidates (as a shortcut for critical thinking which is much too hard). Why would you move past the screening stage knowing how many YoE I have? It would be dishonest of you to move past that stage with my candidacy knowing that you would later downlevel me. (I am not claiming Shopify did this, merely an example.)