The fee market is a free market, If people are willing to pay for block space then thats demand.
I dont think there is any conspiracy here. Something similar happened with Coloured Coins in early days of bitcoin. nostr:npub1de6l09erjl9r990q7n9ql0rwh8x8n059ht7a267n0q3qe28wua8q20q0sd told me about it.