They don't HAVE to, but they do choose to allow it. We'll all likely have to make choices in the coming years regarding principles, morality, ethics, empathy vs profit, safety, and security. They've chosen one path, hopefully many others choose the other.
Exactly. It's a choice to de-prioritize ethics by mechanical application of policies rather than choosing the greater good with critical thinking skills and integrity. It becomes foot-gunning in the long term since history won't be kind to the [insert future pejorative label] sympathizers. More broadly, I hope SV cleans up its act and rejects the MAANG megacorp surrender to the current ideological faction because it didn't align to the other side the same way previously when the winds went the other way. (I don't have a horse in this fight but I can see what is happening now is objectively bad. I think we can choose to step back from the red vs. blue team sports nonsense and have objective discussions of what's likely to lead to more failure or more success for a given polity.)
