With AI-related risks being inherently global in nature, the hope and anticipation is that there will be a suitably robust regulatory environment wherever the technology is deployed, Michael Connor, Executive Director at Open MIC, tells ESG Investor.
“Many companies have global activities, so we need to ensure that if they are applying a higher standard in Europe due to EU regulations, this should be the case wherever they operate to foster greater corporate accountability in the deployment and use of digital technologies,” he says.
To Michael Connor, executive director of Open MIC, a nonprofit that works with sustainable funds to organize shareholder proposals, that's a sign that things are trending in the right direction. "Over time even if shareholder proposals are voted down, it doesn't mean directors don't have a fiduciary duty to worry about those issues and be concerned about them," Connor said.
Both Glass Lewis and Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) told their clients that adopting the proposal’s recommendations would be a positive step for Thomson Reuters from a business perspective.
Glass Lewis and ISS “play a very influential role in the shareholder advocacy world,” said Michael Connor, executive director of Open Mic, a nonprofit focused on corporate accountability in tech and media, adding that one of those endorsements can swing up to 20 percent of the vote in some cases.
“Last week’s vote confirms that Amazon needs to take aggressive steps to address investor concerns about its facial recognition technology, Rekognition,” said Michael Connor, Executive Director of Open MIC in relation to another proposal asking for a report on customer use of certain technologies that over 34% of shareholders supported. “Amazon’s current moratorium on police use of Rekognition isn’t sufficient. At the very least, Amazon must now broaden the scope of the moratorium to bar the use of Rekognition not only by police but also by ANY government agency or ANY law enforcement... ANYWHERE in the world.”
“Face surveillance dramatically expands law enforcement’s power and threatens rights including privacy, freedom of expression, freedom of association, and due process for everyone. But the threats are greatest for Black and Brown communities, Muslim communities, immigrant communities, Indigenous communities, and other people historically and currently marginalized and targeted by policing,” Michael Connor, executive director of Open MIC, a nonprofit advocating for Harrington, said in a statement.
Tech giants are facing increasing pressure from activists to adopt proposals aimed at expanding whistleblower protections, investigating potential civil rights violations and curbing hate speech online.
Activist shareholders are pushing for the proposals to be adopted during this week’s annual meetings, the first to be held after a year that’s included nationwide Black Lives Matter protests, a deadly riot at the U.S. Capitol and challenging working conditions for many on-site workers in the tech industry.
“Thirty percent support for the proposal in its first year at Uber shows a significant base of support for this reform, which we believe will only grow over time,” a spokeswoman for the Teamsters said Tuesday. “Transparency and accountability are necessary at Uber and throughout the ‘gig’ industry.”
Michael Connor, executive director of Open MIC (Media and Information Companies Initiative), a nonprofit that works on socially responsible investing, agreed with that assessment.
“[It’s] a strong signal that the underlying issues are important to an influential contingent of investors — and the company’s board and management would be wise to begin addressing those issues,” he said.
Brought by Trillium Asset Management, which holds shares in Alphabet valued about $150 million, the resolution calls for an independent third party to review Alphabet’s existing whistleblower policy and bolster protections for employees…Trillium worked with Open Mic, a non-profit that helps shareholders craft resolutions to force change at boards, to frame the whistleblower measure. Last year, Trillium’s resolution received about 5% of the vote, but the firm is confident that support will double or triple this year.
Hannah Lucal, Open Mic's associate director, told Insider that it often tries to engage with companies directly on issues, but when that doesn't work out it will try to apply pressure through company shareholders. Recent internal blow-ups at Google have been red flags for how the company treats employees who raise concerns, she said.
"I think we're seeing a domino effect," Lucal said. "Over the past few years there have been so many stories coming out about how Google has retaliated against workers who speak up against ethical and human rights concerns."
Hannah Lucal, associate director at Open MIC, said the coverage of recent high profile Google dismissals, is just “the tip of the iceberg” and suggests there's “more institutional harm happening” that the public is unaware of.
“The proposal is saying, ‘can we have a third party, an independent party come in, and uncover the whole iceberg and understand and assess what is Google hiding? What is actually going on?’ Shareholders want to know, the public needs to know,” Lucal said.
Michael Connor, executive director of Open MIC (Media and Information Companies Initiative), a nonprofit that works on socially responsible investing and shareholder engagement, told MarketWatch that recommendations by Glass Lewis and ISS, which advise many of the world’s largest asset managers, “are a big deal and can translate into an additional twenty percentage points or more in the final tabulation for a proposal.”
The San Francisco-based company’s investors are scheduled to vote on this and other proposals at the May 10 annual shareholder meeting.
