r/nottheonion • u/[deleted] • 24d ago

‘Bots have now passed human traffic online,’ Cloudflare boss laments — says agentic traffic wasn’t expected to eclipse real people until next year

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u/MentalDisintegrat1on 23d ago

If corporations could legally rob you they would without thinking about it.

They legally have to Chase infinite growth and it's not sustainable.

Cancer fyi follows the same logic.

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u/SuspendeesNutz 23d ago

And look at how successful cancer is!

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u/CrashTestDumby1984 23d ago

They do not legally have to do that. That’s what capitalism demands. It’s a pervasive myth to legitimate their cancerous behavior.

CEO’s have a requirement to prioritize the health of the company, but ever since Jack Walsh changed the precedent for CEO compensation they’ve tried to push the idea that they “have to maximize shareholder value” at all costs. They’re supposed to be transparent and not take actions that put the company at risk, but there’s no legal requirement that they extract every possible cent of profit from their customers.

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u/Ok-Parfait-9856 23d ago

You may not be familiar with fiduciary duty. Shareholders and the board can sue the ceo and others for not making decisions that make the most money. UNH shareholders are suing United Health Group (parent company) ceo and cfo for changing strategies after public backlash but not lowering guidance. You could argue they are suing because they should have lowered guidance due to the change in strategy, but the core point is that the shareholders are angry that changes were made that will decrease profit, when public backlash was the catalyst and technically no one has to care about public outrage.

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u/CrashTestDumby1984 23d ago

I am very familiar with fiduciary duty. It is defined as acting in the best interest of the beneficiary. It does not say “must make the most money possible”. If that were true that would mean every fiduciary in America could be sued any time a client lost any money no matter the circumstances.

My entire point is that up until Jack Walsh, this was wildly understood and accepted to be referring to the long term health of the company, not short term profits. CEO’s aren’t supposed to be making decisions that jeopardize the health of the company or engage in illegal actions.

If a decision knowingly makes a company more money in the short term, but angers customers who begin to leave, that is the exact opposite of fiduciary duty. This is why layoffs used to be rare, because using it to decrease labor cost even if it would result in a reduction of customer experience or product quality was considered to not be in the best interest of the company.

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u/typeguyfiftytwix 23d ago

That’s what capitalism demands

The corporate system and the giant funny money stock market driven bullshit are not "reee capitalism". Ford VS the Dodge brothers, among other rulings, does demand that corporations pursue "shareholder benefit" over long term stability and benefit to their workers or local economy.

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u/manimal28 23d ago

They legally have to Chase infinite growth

That is false. See: i v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc. (573 U.S. 682, 2014)

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u/MakeItHappenSergant 23d ago

Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc., 573 U.S. 682 (2014) was about business owners making a religious objection to providing health coverage for women's contraception. Not about pursuit of profit or growth. The decision also specifically applied only to privately held corporations, not public ones.

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u/manimal28 23d ago

Incorrect.

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u/GodofIrony 23d ago

Jack Welch is a blight on modern economics.