If I were a shareholder I’d only expect them to operate within the law. Or if the CEO was unsure then hold a shareholder vote (though I’d rather the CEO do their job and not bother us).

In the end it is the democratically elected people’s job to make the laws in the public’s interest.

Ban advertising to minors.

This is such a “le late stage capitalism” sentiment that I see posted all the time. It completely misrepresents the responsibility of a public company to operate in its shareholders’ best interest.

I think the underlying effort with that sentiment is not to agree on what companies' responsibilities or "ethics" are, but rather to create enough guardrails (legislation, rules, public sentiment through the free press, etc.) for companies that they can't act immorally or unethically.

I think it's high time we stop assigning personalities to companies, expecting them to be "good people", and start legislating them to prevent them from harming people and the planet in the first place.

If you feel that it's being misrepresented, feel free to represent it properly.

> shareholders’ best interest.

Which is commonly understood in just financial terms. But when you think about it in a more open way, shareholders have children, too, and any action of the company that is negative for the society cannot be said it's in shareholders' best interest. (This is regardless of whether what the report says is actually true.)

>the responsibility of a public company to operate in its shareholders’ best interest

The shareholders are only interested in profits.

This made me think of one analogy, that shareholders just want heat in their homes and there are two ways to produce heat: by destroying something (burning oil, the nuclear reaction) or by creating something (fusion). The former is much easier and unless the laws prevent this low effort business, the heating company will happily burn forests, poison rivers and sell the future of the young people if necessary.

Not really. If Facebook (and the rest of them) keep burning bridges and making enemies, in this political climate, they're going to get broken up or even liquidated if enough users leave. That is not in shareholder interest.

And how are profits gained? Ideally, in providing goods or services of value to society.

In a competitive free market the profit incentive is actually the 'who can do the most good for society' incentive.