I totally agree that predatory publishers are a huge part of the problem:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Predatory_open-access_publishi...

https://jefferson.libguides.com/predatorypublishing

https://beallslist.weebly.com/

And now predatory conferences:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Predatory_conference

https://libguides.caltech.edu/c.php?g=512665&p=3503029

However, the storm actually started with the failure of reproducible of research in high impact journals:

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnhum.2018.0003...

http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/02/if-you-fail-reproduce...

https://www.timeshighereducation.com/features/reproducing-re...

This is not an chicken-egg problem, it is an ethic problem, motivated by remuneration and funding.