If you read about the heyday of RJ Reynolds tobacco and all the money they had and all the good they did for Winston-Salem, I think there is a big parallel. If someone wrote a "Why I work in big tobacco" post, talking about their charitable work, I don't think they'd make any friends. But I think order of magnitude wise, the impact on quality of life, mental health, public discourse, etc etc of internet advertising (and specifically the attention economy it gives rise to) will be shown to be (a) just as addictive and (b) as harmful as tobacco was.

So I agree with you, there is no moral high ground for the people involved. They should be looked on no differently than anyone else exploiting addiction for profit.