The 'Broader Impacts' section the proposal is a required element for all National Science Foundation proposals (like this one). It need not be about diversity but you need to articulate how your proposed work has "potential to benefit society and contribute to the achievement of specific, desired societal outcomes." So certainly it's forced. In the same way demonstrating the Intellectual Merit of your work is also forced (that being the other criteria against which the proposal is going to be judged).

Researchers should absolutely be required to ruminate on the broader public impacts of their research when requesting vast sums of money from the public.

I once heard a researcher on NPR being interviewed about the ethical considerations of Deep Fake research and their answer was (parphrased) "I don't think about these things, I just do the science. The ethical impacts are for others to think about" and I jaw hit the floor.

Today we see the unintended consequences of various technologies finding confluence in the public sphere, and the impacts are reverberating across society. Now more than ever researchers have to be cognizant of the broader societal impacts of their work.