When is it reasonable and justified to offer your employees equity in the company?

This starts with a story:

In the summer, one founder of a VC-backed startup approached me to manage his LinkedIn profile, through which he acquires clients (personal brand building).

It was a classic job interview, where the assumption is to create a conversion (you are active on someone's account, building their personal brand, as the account grows, people are noticing you, write to you, you arrange a call, and maybe close a sale)

I asked if there was a possibility of getting equity in this position, because the other positions they had advertised (whether tech, GTM, sales, some small percentage of equity) did offer even a small %...

The answer was "No, this position does not include equity."

Startups are increasingly offering equity for positions that are not related to sales.

So now I'm wondering what the equity offer depends on (position, how early you get into the business or what?) I found it a bit unfair.

There's another extreme: I find it a bit paradoxical that companies want loyalty from you even when the corporate ship is sinking, and you are asked to sink with it, even though you don't own anything on it.