Failing to preserve evidence is sacntionable, even if it isn't willful destruction. The penalties generally aren't as stiff, but if the judges accepted "Oopsie, we accidentally destroyed evidence we were required to preserve" as a defense, there would be an incentive to destroy evidence and claim it was an accident.
The fact that most companies still turn over evidence that's damning to their own cases is the proof that it's generally a bad idea to accidentally destroy evidence.
Look at it another way: If you're speeding and get pulled over, would a judge let you off if you tell him you were only doing 70 in a 35 because you weren't paying attention to the road?
Okay. Now, explain the concept of enshitification. And do it using terms that regular folk won't find crass.
You know how conservatives live in this bubble where they don't even see their racism because it's so normalized? We're interacting within a bubble where everyone has a very high level of technical competence versus the average person, so we fail to understand just how tech illiterate others are.