They’re the most obvious stakeholder… the regulation is going to directly affect them.

No, the public at large are the stakeholders. The enterprise is the subject of the regulation.

"Stakeholder" literally means someone with a stake in the outcome, which is to say, those who will be affected by the decision. That can include a whole range of people+entities, including citizens (as a group) and the companies to be regulated.

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shimman 3 hours ago | parent [-]

Yes and the public are the stake holders for regulations, not a private corporation good fucking lord. Are you so neoliberal brained that you can't realize how bad it is, both for society and democratic nations, to have a critical aspect of your government captured by undemocratic private interests?

Regulatory capture is not a good thing. Companies that make money should have zero authoritative say, especially companies that pay for PACs to help sway elections in their favor:

https://www.anthropic.com/news/donate-public-first-action

	▲	tptacek 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Several people on this thread have aliased the terms "stakeholder" and "protagonist".