G5. Stakeholder engagement and accountability

The company should engage with a range of stakeholders on the company’s impact on freedom of expression and information, privacy, and potential risks of related human rights harms such as discrimination.

Elements: 

1. Is the company a member of one or more multi-stakeholder initiatives that address the full range of ways in which users’ fundamental rights to freedom of expression and information, privacy, and non-discrimination may be affected in the course of the company’s operations?
2. If the company is not a member of one or more such multi-stakeholder initiatives, is the company a member of any organizations that engages systematically and on a regular basis with non-industry and non-governmental stakeholders on freedom of expression and privacy issues?
3. If the company is not a member of one of these organizations, does the company disclose that it initiates or participates in meetings with stakeholders that represent, advocate on behalf of, or are people whose rights to freedom of expression and information and to privacy are directly impacted by the company’s business?

Discrimination  — For the purpose of the RDR Index, discrimination refers to the practice of treating particular people, companies, or products differently from others, especially in an unfair way. Source: Cambridge Business English dictionary, https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/discrimination.

Engage — Interactions between the company and stakeholders. Companies or stakeholders can initiate these interactions, and they can take various formats, including meetings, other communication, etc.

Multi-stakeholder initiative — A credible multi-stakeholder organization includes and is governed by members of at least three other stakeholder groups besides industry: civil society, investors, academics, at-large user or customer representatives, technical community, and/or government. Its funding model derives from more than one type of source (corporations, governments, foundations, public donations, etc.). Its independence, rigor, and professionalism are of a high standard, with strong participation by human rights organizations that themselves have solid track records of independence from corporate and/or government control. The Global Network Initiative is an example of a multi-stakeholder initiative focused on freedom of expression and privacy in the ICT sector.

Stakeholders — People who have a “stake” because they are affected in some way by a company’s actions or decisions. Note that stakeholders are not the same as “rights holders” and that there are different kinds of stakeholders: those who are directly affected, and “intermediary stakeholders” whose role is to advocate for the rights of direct stakeholders. Rights holders are the individuals whose human rights could be directly impacted. They interact with the company and its products and services on a day-to-day basis, typically as employees, customers, or users. Intermediary stakeholders include individuals and organizations informed about and capable of speaking on behalf of rights holders, such as civil society organizations, activist groups, academics, opinion formers, and policymakers.” (p. 10 of 28). Source: Stakeholder Engagement in Human Rights Due Diligence: Challenges and Solutions for ICT Companies by BSR, Sept. 2014 http://www.bsr.org/reports/BSR_Rights_Holder_Engagement.pdf

Indicator guidance: This indicator seeks evidence that the company engages with and commits to being accountable by its stakeholders—particularly with those who face human rights risks in connection with their online activities. We expect stakeholder engagement to be a core component of a company’s policy development and impact assessment process. Stakeholder engagement should be carried out across the full range of issues related to users’ freedom of expression and information, privacy, and related rights, including a company’s process for developing terms of service, privacy, and identity policies, as well as algorithmic use policies and policies governing targeted advertising, along with the enforcement practices for those policies. Stakeholder engagement and accountability mechanisms should include the full range of ways in which users’ rights may be violated: government demands, actions by other third parties via the companies’ products and services, or by the companies themselves. Companies that receive full credit on this indicator will not only engage with stakeholders but also commit to accountability processes such as independent assessments overseen by a body whose final decisions are not controlled by companies alone.

Engaging with stakeholders, especially those who operate in high-risk environments, can be sensitive. A company may not feel comfortable publicly disclosing specific details about which stakeholders it consults, where or when they meet, and what they discuss. While we encourage companies to provide details about non-sensitive stakeholder engagement, we seek, at a minimum, public disclosure that a company engages with stakeholders who are or represent users whose rights to freedom of expression and privacy are at risk. One way the public knows a company participates in this type of engagement and that the engagement produces actual results is through its involvement in a multi-stakeholder initiative whose purpose is not only to create a safe space for engagement, but also to enable companies to make commitments, support them in meeting them, and hold companies accountable to them. Full and credible accountability mechanisms require multi-stakeholder governance in which companies alone do not control decision making regarding accountability processes and engagements, but rather share decision-making authority with representatives of other stakeholder constituencies.

Companies that are members of the Global Network Initiative will not receive an N/A for Elements 2 and 3, like in previous years, because GNI membership without evidence of engagement and accountability around other human rights risks will only result in partial credit for Element 1 of this indicator. Note that because the scope of the Global Network Initiative’s work encompasses solely government demands, and at least half of RDR’s methodology addresses human rights threats that do not originate from governments. However, if a company receives full credit on Element 1, it will automatically receive full credit on Element 2 and Element 3.

• Company CSR/sustainability report
• Company annual report
• Company blog
• Membership lists on the Global Network Initiative and Industry Dialogue websites
• Company FAQ or Help Center