A way that kayfabe grows in any organization of sufficient size.

The kayfabe has delaminated from the ground truth.

If you privately point out the ground truth, a leader will pull you aside and say something like:

"We know the official plan is not perfect. It has a ton of room for improvement. But if you point out the ground truth, you'll shatter the whole thing and throw it into chaos. Don't break it, help fix it!"

That sounds totally reasonable!

But sometimes it's so far gone that you realize that not only is each incremental bit of effort harming users, and harming employees, but also harming the company.

And with each incremental bit of effort, the problem is getting worse, not better.

In that situation, it's not possible to "fix it". If you try to, you'll be sucked into its swirling currents, dragged into the gravity well, lost like everyone else around you.