https://travel.state.gov/content/dam/visas/BusinessVisa%20Pu...

The common thread is that you can use it to receive awards, attend conferences, or meet with clients, but only if you do not receive any income for doing that. So something like an office all hands meeting is really a gray area -- you are being paid a salary to attend that all hands meeting. IANAL, but it doesn't seem like an extreme situation to say that this should require a regular B-1 VISA and not be covered under the visa waiver program.

Now you can argue that all hands should be covered, or that the VISA waiver laws should be changed, but reasonable people can disagree about this. I don't think the situation warrants current the level of outrage, or is a good poster boy for condemning bureaucrats wanting "control over our daily lives".

Also, the individual was not denied entry, he was denied a VISA waiver. He can still get the VISA and then enter. This is really something you need to check beforehand.

Consequence of being accused of crime is prosecution, with potential loss of freedom (or death).

Consequence of being denied entry into one country in the world -- is not the same (unless you are unfairly prosecuted in your own country and there is no other country that you can go to).

Being denied to enter a country, more akin, in my view, to being denied a job interview (and subsequent employment).