Just because something isn’t reasonable doesn’t mean it isn’t correct. If someone is hired as a software engineer and they refer to themselves as a software engineer, that’s their prerogative. Do I think it’s reasonable the term is used for people without professional experience or formal education? Not really. But that’s how it is and we shouldn’t put someone down (as OP seems to have done) because of it.
Language evolves. Shaking your fist at the term "software engineer" isn't going to roll back those changes. If my title is software engineer (it isn't, it's ML engineer), and that's what recruiters looking at my resume will expect for the kinds of jobs I'm qualified for, then by golly I'm going to call myself an engineer.