I've never felt that way at the 3 tech companies I've worked at.
More to the contrary, I'd want the CEO or CTO to know me, who i am, and what I've done.
How large are the companies approximately? I've worked for small to large. The visibility was possible on the smaller companies, the larger was increasingly difficult (oceans of smaller teams). I haven't worked at a company where I've feared the CEO.
Those tech companies must have been small. Don’t get me wrong. I spent most of my career at small companies. But, currently, my CEO is 7 levels above me in the hierarchy and I’m one of 1.6+ million employees.
I've worked for a top 50 company by market cap and the CEO and other execs we're pleasant people. Well one or two of the execs were assholes but not the 'ill get you fired' assholes.