GraphQL was "promising" something because it was a thing by a single company.
HATEOAS didn't need to "promise" anything since it was just describing already existing protocols and capabilities that you can see in the links I posted.
And that's how you got POST-only GraphQL which for years has been busily reinventing half of HTTP
GraphQL promised to solve real-world problems.
What real world problems does HATEOAS addresses? None.