Score changes since 2022

Ten of the 13 digital platform companies that were previously assessed in the 2022 Big Tech Scorecard have made progress. X, Apple, and VK declined in their overall transparency.

For the 2025 RDR Index: Big Tech Edition, we used the same indicators and research methodology as we did for the 2022 Big Tech Scorecard. But we made some changes that affected companies’ ranks, like adding ByteDance and removing Yahoo, and made a small number of re-assessments on individual elements.

The chart below shows how many points companies gained or lost—overall and in our three categories of indicators—between the 2022 and 2025 edition of the RDR Index. We created it by comparing each company’s indicator- and element-level scores on questions we asked in both editions. The chart also corrects for minor discrepancies between the two years.^[1]

Greatest overall improvements

• Alibaba achieved the largest improvement in its overall score, driven by a double-digit increase in transparency on governance. Like its Chinese peers Baidu and Tencent, which also made notable gains in their total scores, Alibaba’s improvement was largely influenced by China's three-year-long regulatory crackdown on the tech industry, grounded in what the government called a disorderly expansion of capital, as well as pressure from international investors. The company pledged to respect human rights and introduced a series of new governance measures, including a top-down oversight mechanism for privacy issues and an employee whistleblower program. It also became the first Chinese company to provide a detailed account of how its primary algorithmic systems function. It also introduced new ways for users to obtain a copy of their personal data.
• Baidu made greater improvements in its total score than most companies, showing notable progress in its governance practices, much like Alibaba. The company outlined a three-tier oversight structure for monitoring ESG issues, including human rights, and its collaboration with third-party experts to regularly conduct human rights impact assessments. In terms of privacy, Baidu improved the clarity of several aspects of its policies—for example, it shared more details about its user data inference and allowed users to obtain a copy of their personal information.

Greatest overall declines

• X (formerly known as Twitter) recorded a drastic drop in its overall score, largely due to significant declines in policy transparency across key areas of governance and the suspension of its transparency reporting during 2022 and 2023. While X.com (the social media platform) maintained a commitment to respect human rights, its parent company did not make a corresponding commitment. Following its privatization, X stopped disclosing any governance oversight structures related to the protection of human rights and ceased sharing information about stakeholder engagement efforts. The company also significantly reduced its transparency regarding content restrictions, both in terms of enforcing its own policies and responding to external requests. In addition, X failed to release any data on government requests for user information.^[2]
• VK slimmed down its disclosures about its governance and privacy protections. The company no longer disclosed whether it provides employee training on privacy protection. While VK offered clearer insights into its algorithmic systems and content moderation practices, it stopped disclosing how it handles government requests for user information and whether it notifies users about such requests. It also discontinued key disclosures related to its encryption practices and vulnerability reporting.