I believe Google at least at that time was trying to hire engineers who could theoretically be put to work on any team, potentially being asked to create Tensor

I believe Google at least at that time was trying to hire engineers who could theoretically be put to work on any team, potentially being asked to create TensorFlow or MapReduce or contributing to the Linux kernel in service of Android, not people who have pigeonholed themselves into only being considered web developers. If pure CRUD companies only looking for JavaScript specialists are also using leetcode screening, they're missing the point.