I don’t think we disagree, really, I maybe expressed my first post badly.
I do think there are sometimes valid reasons why things are socially unacceptable, though. For example, our views on the ability of children to consent at different ages have changed over time. So, you could have a valid research question, in terms of puberty and development and sexuality, potentially at least, and an ethical research process, but it could be rather questionable socially, because paedophiles could use the research to justify their own leanings and actions. Or if the research was about routes for trafficking drugs into deprived areas, which could inadvertently assist actual traffickers.
Not great examples, but that is sort of what I mean by negative impact. Do you just say, but it is valid research, and academics must have freedom, or do you say, hang on a minute, are there wider implications of this? And how far is the academic responsible? Because you cannot argue that academics have no responsibility about the wider uses of their research, or assume all impact is positive, I don’t think.