Insights from our team highlighting topics that are critical to our human rights mission.
The annual AGM (annual general meetings) season at major tech companies recently wrapped up in a climate of increased scrutiny toward the industry, with the rapid emergence of new AI and AI-powered tools. While these new tools may appear to rekindle excitement in an industry
Late last year, a bombshell investigation found that 12 companies linked to the persecution of the Uyghur minority in China’s Xinjiang region appeared in Article 9 funds. These funds, under EU law, are meant to include only companies that follow the strictest level of sustainability.
Over the past weeks, Amazon, Meta, Twitter, and Alphabet (Google) all faced a shareholder reckoning. Nearly 50 petitions launched by investors across the four tech giants called on them to come clean on an array of issues. Many of those issues were related to human
The SEC rejected Meta’s push to block a slate of human rights proposals, including one focused on targeted advertising A round of rulings by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has made it clear that Meta (FB) cannot escape shareholder scrutiny on fundamental human rights
Today, Alphabet ($GOOGL) shareholders filed a set of proposals ahead of the annual shareholder meeting this spring covering major human rights issues ranging from algorithmic transparency to data security, to disinformation. Ranking Digital Rights is proud to have worked with Alphabet shareholders and the Investor
RDR maintains strong bonds with the investor community. Our methodology and standards were designed to respond to the needs of shareholders seeking insight on tech companies’ and telcos’ performance on digital rights issues.
With the rise of ESG (environmental, social, and governance) investing, the impact of our work with investors has continued to grow.
We use our detailed research findings to advise investors on individual companies’ transparency about their policies and practices. We support investors in standalone digital rights-related projects, including the development of digital rights principles and expectations for tech companies.
In collaboration with the Investor Alliance for Human Rights, we are supporting more than 175 investors with more than $9T in assets in a multi-year campaign to push the companies evaluated in our Scorecards to address our human rights recommendations. The Investor Statement on Corporate Accountability for Digital Rights serves as a point of departure for the campaign and highlights areas where investor signatories expect tech companies and telcos to improve.
We work directly with investors and investor coalitions to develop shareholder proposals (resolutions) targeting companies we rank and their peers. In 2022, we collaborated with shareholders to draft a proposal calling on Meta to assess the human rights impacts of its targeted advertising systems that achieved one of the highest levels of support in the company’s history. In 2022, we were cited in at least five shareholder resolutions at Alphabet (Google), Apple, Meta, and Twitter.
Shareholder resolutions are one of the most powerful tools in the activist investor’s toolbox. Shareholders often target publicly held companies with proposals calling for more transparency and accountability on human rights issues. These petitions are put to a vote at the company’s annual meeting through a process known as proxy voting.
Although proposals are generally non-binding, winning a majority of shareholder votes creates strong pressure for the company to comply. Proposals that win 30% support or more are also likely to persuade companies to review policies and practices by demonstrating growing shareholder alignment to the Board.
Below, you will find a list of recent shareholder proposals related to digital rights at companies covered by RDR’s Scorecards as well as other tech companies and telcos.
We include resolutions on the following topics: transparency reporting (including government demands), corporate governance of human rights issues, human rights due diligence, civil rights audits, privacy (e.g., data collection and processing), content governance, algorithms and targeted advertising, interconnected rights (e.g., freedom of association), and political lobbying. We also include other resolutions related to digital rights on a case-by-case basis.
The Outcome column reports voting outcomes for proposals that made it to the voting stage. It also notes when a filer withdrew a proposal following an agreement with the company, if this information was made public. The Impact column highlights relevant news coverage and major development stemming from each proposal. You can search for specific proposals by keywords using each table’s search bar.
At most companies, one share is worth one vote. But some use unequal voting classes that allow the votes of founders and insiders to hold many times the weight of an ordinary vote. By voting against proposals, this “superclass” artificially dilutes the outcome, ultimately entrenching its own power. We mark the companies to which this applies in the tables below. Read more about how these structures can harm human rights and what we can do about it.
You can scroll the table horizontally and vertically
Proxy statements: 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019
Note: Alphabet’s multi-class stock structure grants Class B (insider) shareholders ten votes per share. A separate class (Class C) has no voting rights. This gives Board members Larry Page and Sergey Brin, the primary holders of the “insider” class of stock, 52% of the overall voting power.
Proxy statements: 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019
Note: Meta’s multi-class stock structure grants Class B (insider) shareholders ten votes per share. This gives CEO Mark Zuckerberg, the primary holder of the “insider” class of stock, 57% of the overall voting power.
Whether you’re an institutional or retail shareholder, or if you play another role in the investor community, we welcome new opportunities for collaboration. Our methodology is adaptable to a variety of industries and continues to evolve to respond to the most pressing human rights challenges of the online world. If you’d like to collaborate or seek support for your ESG and human rights work, please drop us a line at investors@rankingdigitalrights.org.
Subscribe to our newsletter to stay in touch!
Notifications
