> "I don't understand how these exes are leading these conversations, as they are responsible creating these products with potential harms in the first place."

Imagine a caveman figured out how to make fire. Their tribe sees how they can use it against their enemy tribes or to clear brush or whatever. They decide to hold a meeting to discuss the fire and how to not let it burn down their own village or their whole forest. Probably the guy who figured out how to make it would be involved in that meeting.