You not reading the thread is problematic. Meta is pledging 3 years of engineer time not money.
You could maybe make the argument that they're trying to swing priorities if this is considered valuable but less valuable than other things, but given the PSF doesn't actually employ anyone who it can direct to work on specific projects anyway, how is this any different from the already existing prioritisation process of "things that somebody is interested enough to go through the PEP process and then work on"?
We all remember the anti-OSS 'Linux is only free if your time is free'.
The alternative is Meta puts in no money to salaries and benefits for up to three individual's time on this project, or Meta puts in no money at all.
Meta is paying, one way or another, for this project.
Did I deny this?
To put it in extreme clear example, just said time for someone to punch you != time for someone to work for you, while money is same all across. I hope you don't disagree with it.