That commit is replacing the logo and link of the previous sponsor Private Internet Access with one for Shells instead, and looking at the Wayback Machine that previous logo and link has been there since about April 2016[1] in the same location with the same level of prominence. (The one in the top-right corner underneath the Wayback Machine's toolbar, not the "Private Internet Access" entry in the footer which seems to have disappeared with the switch to Shells.) So in reality, this isn't some shocking new intrusion of corporate logos that began in 2021 despite ex-Freenode staff succesfully spinning it that way, it's something that's been going on pretty much since he purchased Freenode Inc half a decade ago. (Actually, maybe even before he did. Not 100% sure of the exact timeline.) The only thing that's changed is which sponsor and logo exactly is featured. Apparently somehow no-one thought to check if this key, easily-verified claim is actually true until I ended up stumbling on the old PIA logo by accident when looking for the new sponsor's one.

In fact, thinking about it I seem to remember some discussion of the fact that the PIA logo had been added at the time and that it was something to do with their funding of Freenode Live, and that no-one much seemed to care back then aside from a few trolls of the sort Freenode has always attracted under all its owners.

[1] https://web.archive.org/web/20160413123025/https://freenode....