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.
A coalition of investor advocates led by Azzad Asset Management withdrew a shareholder proposal this month after reaching an agreement with Apple Inc. regarding the company’s plan to improve its transparency reports and specifically add clarity around the removal of applications from its app store in response to government requests.
Open MIC filed a public comment urging the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to prescribe new trade regulation rules concerning harmful commercial surveillance and data security practices. The comments come in response to the agency’s proposed rulemaking regarding commercial surveillance and lax data security practices.
Investor advocates have reached an agreement with Microsoft Corporation to withdraw a shareholder proposal requesting evaluation of the company’s lobbying activities, in consideration of a new commitment from Microsoft to advance its disclosures and value-alignment practices surrounding political engagement.
Open MIC, Heartland Initiative, and Access Now submitted comments urging the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which is weighing rules and forming amendments on ESG practices, to help investors access accurate data about the ESG performance of the companies they back, in turn making more informed decisions.
Open MIC partnered with a group of organizations including Earthseed, Whistle Stop Capital, and the Minderoo Foundation to form the Transparency in Employment Agreements (TEA) coalition during the 2021-2022 proxy season. Our goal was to end Big Tech’s use of concealment agreements as a means to silence employees who’ve experienced harassment, discrimination, or other unlawful behavior.
“The Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson is a devastating blow to human and civil rights. It will be vitally important to support organizations and networks working to protect pregnant people and those who may become pregnant, especially in states where abortion healthcare is criminalized.
For technology companies, the decision raises immediate and essential concerns regarding data privacy, collection, retention, and sharing practices.
According to final voting numbers for Alphabet’s 2022 annual general meeting, approximately 64.3 percent of independent shareholders voted in favor of a third-party racial equity audit analyzing the company’s impacts on Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) communities. However the proposal failed to earn an overall majority due to the outsized voting power of Alphabet founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page.
Sergey Brin, Larry Page, and Eric Schmidt: As Class B shareholders, your support or abstention has the power to make or break this popular and necessary investor-led advocacy. We urge you to uphold Alphabet’s principles and “do the right thing” by supporting proposal 9 for an independent racial equity audit.
Salesforce, a leading provider of cloud-based software, announced today that it plans to adopt the principles of a shareholder proposal filed by Whistle Stop Capital regarding the company’s use of concealment clauses in employment agreements and will extend the protections of California’s Silenced No More Act to all U.S. employees. In light of this news, shareholders have successfully withdrawn their proposal.
In a major victory for investors, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has ruled that Meta - the parent company of Facebook and Instagram - must give investors an opportunity to consider and vote on a shareholder proposal that questions Meta’s ”social license to operate an emerging technology like the metaverse” without fully understanding the potential risks and negative impacts.
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.”
