So you answered the question right?

Spam was under control until the taproot change, and inscriptions in 2023.

IMO-

It was another spam event, which was handled before in Bitcoin history: satoshi dice, colored coins, and counterparty. All blocked by policy filters and SOCIAL DISINCENTIVES

The difference today is the core dev team redefined the documentation and pretended a bug was a feature.

Plebs are now saying enough is enough.