Why else would they be paying us interest for the privilege of providing us with banking services? I know that the real answer is because the government tells them they have to (do both, provide banking services and pay interest) because we've decided it's a social good to provide people with savings accounts and incentivize them to use them, but anyone that knows that knows how banks work.

Why do people who don't know how banks work think they get paid interest on their savings?

This is like those articles that say, "[entity] quietly [doing totally normal thing]" to frame it like it's some devious thing.

That's what banks do. It's not a secret. Any cursory understanding of banking gives you that information.