The 2019 RDR Corporate Accountability Index ranked 24 leading internet, mobile ecosystem, and telecommunications companies on their commitments and policies as they relate to international human rights standards.
In early October, our partners at Access Now launched a campaign urging each of these companies to improve their human rights practices. They sent an open letter to each company, asking executives to commit to implementing one key recommendation drawn from the RDR Index, addressing issues such as transparency on privacy policies, human rights assessments and mechanisms, and third-party requests to restrict freedom of expression.
The table below lists each company, its 2019 RDR Index score, and the recommendation that Access Now made to the company. Recommendations are organized based on the type of action requested. For instance, Access Now urged Facebook and Twitter to disclose their practices on human rights risk assessments. Some categories are further divided by type. Among the companies asked to disclose government requests, Bharti Airtel, MTN, and Ooredoo were all called upon to prioritize disclosing how they handle government requests to shut down internet access. Click on the company name to read the associated open letter. We will add company responses as they are available.
Recommendations from Access Now's Letters to Companies
| COMPANY | 2019 SCORE | COUNTRY OF HEADQUARTERS | RECOMMENDATION | RESPONSE |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| RECOMMENDATION: COMMIT TO HUMAN RIGHTS | ||||
| Governance | ||||
| Apple | 46% | U.S. | Apple should disclose a commitment to respect freedom of expression as a fundamental human right, and put processes in place to strengthen its governance and oversight over freedom of expression issues at the company. | Response |
| Deutsche Telekom | 44% | Germany | Deutsche Telekom should strengthen its governance and oversight over freedom of expression issues, including by disclosing evidence of senior-level oversight over these issues across the company’s operations. | None |
| Freedom of Expression | ||||
| Kakao | 50% | Korea | Kakao should publish a formal commitment to respect users’ freedom of expression, in accordance with international human rights standards and norms of corporate responsibility. | Response |
| Tencent | 26% | China | Tencent should publish a formal commitment to protect and respect the freedom of expression and privacy rights of its users. | None |
| Mail.Ru | 21% | Russia | Mail.Ru should make a clear commitment to respect freedom of expression and privacy as human rights, as there are no legal obstacles preventing it from doing so. | Response |
| Axiata | 14% | Malaysia | Axiata should publish its commitment to respect freedom of expression and privacy as human rights. | None |
| RECOMMENDATION: INCREASE TRANSPARENCY | ||||
| Microsoft | 62% | U.S. | Microsoft should be more transparent about restrictions on freedom of expression by clarifying its policies for notifying users when it restricts access to content or accounts, either due to government requests or as a result of enforcing its own rules. | Response |
| Verizon Media | 61% | U.S. | Verizon Media should clearly articulate the company’s policy for responding to data breaches for all of its properties. | Response |
| AT&T | 48% | U.S. | AT&T should affirm its commitment to upholding net neutrality principles by refraining from engaging in paid prioritization of traffic, including through zero rating programs—a form of network discrimination that undermines net neutrality in practice. | Response |
| Etisalat | 8% | UAE | Etisalat should publish privacy policies clearly disclosing how it handles user information and make its policies both easy to find and understand. | None |
| RECOMMENDATION: ESTABLISH GRIEVANCE MECHANISMS | ||||
| 61% | U.S. | Google should provide clear and accessible channels for users to communicate human rights grievances and obtain appropriate remedy. | None | |
| Samsung | 29% | Korea | Samsung should provide users with grievance mechanisms, as required by law in South Korea, and clearly disclose these mechanisms to users. | None |
| Baidu | 23% | China | Baidu should extend the complaint mechanism it offers for users of its social networking and blog service to users of its cloud and search engine services as well. | None |
| RECOMMENDATION: DISCLOSE GOVERNMENT REQUESTS | ||||
| Internet Shutdowns | ||||
| Bharti Airtel | 16% | India | Bharti Airtel should disclose more about how it responds to government demands to shut down its networks, as there are no legal obstacles in India to providing this information. | None |
| MTN | 16% | South Africa | MTN should clearly disclose policies for handling government orders to shut down networks, and other external requests to restrict access to content or accounts. | None |
| Ooredoo | 5% | Qatar | Ooredoo should clearly disclose how it responds to government requests to block content or shut down networks. | None |
| Content and Account Restrictions / User Data | ||||
| Telenor | 45% | Norway | Telenor should disclose more detailed data about its compliance with government requests to restrict content or accounts and to hand over user information. | Response |
| Orange | 36% | France | Orange should clearly disclose how it responds to government demands to block content or restrict accounts in all markets in which it operates. | None |
| Yandex | 32% | Russia | Yandex should disclose more information about its process for responding to government requests to remove content or deactivate accounts and to hand over user data, as there are no legal obstacles in Russia to providing at least some of this information. | Response |
| América Movil | 25% | Mexico | América Móvil should clearly disclose information about how it responds to government requests to hand over user information. | None |
| RECOMMENDATION: DISCLOSE OTHER THIRD PARTY REQUESTS | ||||
| Telefónica | 57% | Spain | Telefónica should disclose more comprehensive data about how it responds to private requests to restrict access to content or accounts and to hand over user data. | None |
| Vodafone | 52% | U.K. | Vodafone should better inform users about third-party requests to block content and to shut down networks, and disclose where laws may prevent it from being fully transparent about these types of requests. | Response |
| RECOMMENDATION: CONDUCT HUMAN RIGHTS DUE DILIGENCE | ||||
| 57% | U.S. | Facebook should demonstrate that it conducts human rights risks assessments of its targeted advertising policies and practices. | None | |
| 55% | U.S. | Twitter should disclose if it conducts human rights impact assessments, particularly related to its use of automated decision-making technologies and of its targeted advertising policies and practices. | Response | |
