Open MIC and ICCR recently collaborated to release “Dehumanization, Discrimination and Deskilling: The Impact of Digital Tech on Low-Wage Workers.” The investor brief explores how surveillance tech, algorithmic management systems, displacement by AI and automated hiring tools contribute to increased workplace discrimination, diminished autonomy, and reduced job quality.
Encouraged by strong votes at AI companies, as well as Microsoft’s inaugural Responsible AI Transparency Report, Open MIC and partners seek to build momentum for more disclosure and remediation of AI risks.
Investors in Meta Inc. and Alphabet Inc. used votes at their recent annual meetings to highlight serious concerns about the deployment of generative artificial intelligence (gAI) technology and its potential to generate harmful disinformation and misinformation. A shareholder proposal at Meta won 56.3% of the independent shareholder vote, while a similar proposal at Alphabet won 45.7% of the independent shareholder vote.
At Meta’s annual meeting last week, a majority of independent shareholders (53.6%), representing $635 billion in market cap, voted in favor of a proposition demanding more disclosure of the costs and risks associated with the development and deployment of generative AI products. Alphabet shareholders will vote on a similar resolution this Friday.
Over the next two weeks, shareholders at Meta and Alphabet will vote on first-time resolutions calling for more disclosure on the costs and risks of generative AI to the company and society, and on how the companies are mitigating those risks. To date, neither company reports on how well it adheres to the promises it makes with regard to AI, a trend with a long precedent in the social media era.
Earlier this week, the Nathan Cummings Foundation filed a shareholder proposal asking Alphabet, the parent company of Google and YouTube, to commission an independent racial equity audit “analyzing Alphabet Inc.’s adverse impacts on Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) communities.”
In response to shareholder requests, Microsoft Corp. will commission an independent, third-party assessment to “identify, understand, assess, and address actual or potential adverse human rights impacts” of the company’s products, services and business relationships with regard to law enforcement, immigration enforcement, and other government contracts. The report will be made public in 2022.
Investors have filed three shareholder proposals with Microsoft Corp. seeking accountability for the ways in which the company’s lobbying practices, surveillance technologies, and contracts with ICE and other government agencies contradict the company’s own statements and values around racial justice and human rights. The shareholder proposals highlight an apparent gap between Microsoft’s stated principles and policies, and the actual impact of its business and lobbying practices, particularly on communities of color.
For the first time, shareholder resolutions have been filed with companies that advertise or manage major ad budgets on Facebook and other social media companies, citing concerns with how advertisers may have inadvertently financed the spread of white supremacy, disinformation, voter suppression, government censorship, and more on social media platforms. The resolutions—filed with top online advertiser Home Depot and ad agency holding company Omnicom—call on the companies to commission third-party reports investigating whether their ad buys contribute to “violations of civil or human rights” on social media platforms like Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter.
JUNE 11, 2020 — Following intense pressure from shareholders and media justice and civil rights organizations, Amazon announced yesterday that it will impose a one-year moratorium on police use of Rekognition, the company’s highly-criticized and racially biased facial recognition technology. In response to the company’s announcement yesterday, Michael Connor, Executive Director of Open MIC––a non-profit that works with shareholders to foster corporate accountability in the tech sector––said, “This is welcome news after years of shareholders’ organizing to push Amazon to end sales of harmful, unregulated technology to police. But it’s only a temporary moratorium, and it doesn’t address deeper concerns that shareholders have regarding Amazon’s role in a rapidly-developing surveillance economy.”
NEW YORK CITY - June 1, 2020 – Shareholders of Facebook and Amazon (whose names are not Mark Zuckerberg or Jeff Bezos) are sending an important message regarding a host of serious concerns affecting corporate governance, political advertising, facial recognition, surveillance and other critical civil rights issues.
Azzad Asset Management and other investors in Alphabet Inc., Google’s parent company, have filed a shareholder proposal seeking details on what content the company removes in response to government requests, which will be voted on at the company’s annual meeting on June 3.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senators Robert Menendez, Kamala Harris and Richard Blumenthal today released the text of a letter to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg which echoes shareholder concerns over the social media platform’s policy regarding disinformation, “specifically as it pertains to hate speech, discriminatory targeting and the threats such disinformation poses to civil rights and voting rights in advance of the 2020 election.”
Leading up to the June 3 annual meeting of Alphabet Inc., Google’s parent company, investors have filed a shareholder proposal asking the company’s Board of Directors to evaluate its whistleblower protection policy, and to improve company practices to ensure the protection of employees who raise concerns about human rights abuses and other threats to the public interest.
After Amazon tried—and failed—to block a resolution filed by shareholders asking the company’s Board of Directors to conduct an independent review of the effectiveness of Amazon’s customer due diligence process, including whether customers’ use of Amazon products results in human rights violations.
Citing a host of concerns about social media platforms and their global impact on civil and human rights, shareholders have filed proposals at Alphabet (Google’s parent company), Facebook and Twitter asking the companies to establish Director-level oversight and expertise on those issues. Shareholders are concerned by big tech’s ongoing negligence around enabling racism and discrimination online and threatening the human rights of consumers worldwide.
