I'd say it's the author who has a misconceived idea of index funds. Many index funds are way less 'passive' than their marketing claims, running non-trivial sam

I'd say it's the author who has a misconceived idea of index funds. Many index funds are way less 'passive' than their marketing claims, running non-trivial sampling or swap schemes to replicate their indices, as well as engaging in securities lending (all depending on the exact product and terms, usually buried deep inside the legal documentation). And there's no guarantee that they will always exercise the voting rights that they control in those companies in a purely neutral manner (if that's even possible). BlackRock eg has publicly pledged to emphasize climate change mitigation in all their portfolios. While we can hopefully agree that that's a noble cause, it goes to show that those asset managers have way more power than the author is willing to admit.