Those companies sure want you to believe what you're claiming because it means they get the first bite of the cherry but the reality is very different (from my experience anyway).
I strongly disagree, and I'm not sure why you would say that. I've heard that working at Google is a golden stamp on your resume, and you will be able to easily get a job at any other company. You'll probably even be able to skip the coding challenges in any future interviews.
Is this speculative or does this actually happen?
As a team leader I'm involved in hiring and I certainly wouldn't treat one applicant any different from another regardless of their previous postings nor experience (except when I'm headhunting someone I've previously worked with). My own experience interviewing has taught me it's easy for people to put stuff down on CVs (eg they might have legitimately worked at Google but through an acquisition rather than hired by; or not even with the team they suggest they have). So I would consider short-cutting part of the interview process in the way you described to be grossly negligent.
I don't dispute that your CV is more likely to get short listed however you can certainly still sell yourself without having FAANG on there.
My general point is that while I don't disagree that having FAANG on your CV will undoubtedly look good, however a good engineer shouldn't have any problems getting awesome jobs with or without FAANG. Thus is the prestige attached to FAANG really equatable in the real world or is it perhaps disproportionately hyped?
Maybe this is just one of those differences between how people are hired in SV (where I haven't worked) and London (where I do work)?
In Silicon Valley, everyone knows that it is fake prestige and the fact that you worked for a FAANG doesn't really mean anything. I both know excellent and mediocre candidates coming out of FAANGs. It literally carry no information besides the fact that you are probably more attracted to prestige.
Maybe my things are different in London than they are in SV but I've never had any issues. Quite the opposite in fact; I've been turning awesome jobs down.
