>As for your actual question, I haven't actually been seeing this in my recommendations (but then again, I don't have anything related to cryptocurrency or Elon Musk in my recommendations)

I think that's the key, I think OP is finding the spam/scam by searching for content which are prone to exploitation, that said the questions raised by OP are valid.

I think YT algorithm actively pushes these scam to the top just because people who made similar searches clicked on those videos because of clickbait thumbnail/title, through which YT made good money through ads and scammers made good money through... scam.