Is the ridiculous application fee the new deposit?

I've been hearing stories about the new paradigm of landlords are no longer requiring a deposit, but instead charging an appreciable amount for the application fee. I would imagine that this is being done because the first & last month's rent is by itself ridiculously high so that the addition of the deposit is just something that few folks in the renter class can afford. And of course, there is in the fine print that an applicant can be rejected for a credit score below blah, or any blemish for non-payment of rent or mortgage in the past, blah, blah – so the application fee is now a revenue source for the landlord.

The last time I paid an application fee was in the '00s, and it was a reasonable $50.