Quite possibly. Had a mock interview with one of their senior engineers on campus who was impressed and referred me, so I was surprised at being rejected before even the initial phone screen. The rejection email mentioned a new policy of "no new grads (bachelors) for fulltime SWE".
Also possible that I was referred to a particular position which doesn't consider new grads. Do you happen to know if your acquaintances get hired on as fulltime SWE or something different(SRE, residency, etc)?
Maybe you just didn't make the cut?