Maybe it's a form of advertising certain capabilities and services.
For the sake of argument (maybe not true), let's say that all techies are aware of archive.org, and consider it beneficial, probably using it themselves.
Why don't they instead demo against a target that will be proof of capability, and one that someone won't pay them to do (no freebies), yet one that they perceive as bad or deserving in some way?
Probably improper to suggest "better" targets here, but I really wonder what's going on when some relative do-gooder gets attacked.
Similarly, ransomware attack on a children's hospital, of all places? Doesn't that get you uninvited to criminal mastermind dinner parties?
As Omar of "The Wire" told us, a man's gotta have a code.
LockBit was so successful partly because they didn’t have to hack anyone themselves. It was basically something advertised “Got SSH or RDP access? Let’s make a bunch of money.”
This attracted hackers who might not trust themselves to do the extortion part safely, as well as people who didn’t actually hack anything but hated their boss, wanted a payday.
Perhaps they intentionally attack targets that are generally seen in a positive light, to prove to potential customers that morale is not an issue.
Oh, you want me to DDOS a children's hospital? No problem.