There are so many indirect ways to enable harm that you’d probably be hard pressed to find a company that connects people that isn’t somehow causing harm.
You’ve never worked at a startup with a product that required a moderation team?
If your product requires a moderation team, you’re under the umbrella of enabling negative content.
To give an example, people working on video games with online play are enabling a toxic environment where verbal abuse often occurs.
Are they trying to be evil? No.
But in the course of money and growth they add chat to add a social aspect and enable it. More people than not get a positive experience.
The tacky startup aspect is the fact you’d write that down in a memo. Everyone knows it, it’s not some brilliant revelation to wave up and down and act all high and mighty about.
The behavior from bad people isn't normal, but above a certain size it would be abnormal if you didn't find any bad people.
I wouldn't think there's anything objectionable about this statement other than it's vacuously true.
I do agree it would be like a telephone company doing that but a telephone company would never openly admit that to their entire company. Also I doubt they would describe as necessary for growth.