2023 Alphabet, Amazon and Meta Shareholder Resolutions
Background to the Campaign
On January 31, 2023, Members of the Investor Alliance for Human Rights who have been engaging leading tech companies on their human/digital rights risks announced a series of proposals filed for the 2023 proxies of Alphabet ($GOOGL), Amazon ($AMZN) and Meta ($META).
Read quotes from the investors involved:
META
Proposal: Human Rights Impact Assessment. Lead Proponent: Mercy Investment Services.
"Meta platforms, Inc has a GDP that’s larger than 150 countries in the world. Despite its outsized influence, it lacks a substantial commitment to human rights," said Lydia Kuykendal, Director of Shareholder Advocacy at Mercy Investment Services. "To date, the company has ignored the human rights impacts of targeted advertising, its sole source of revenue, yet we know those impacts are felt every day across the globe. For that reason, we are calling on the board of directors to publish an independent third-party Human Rights Impact Assessment (HRIA), examining the human rights impacts of Facebook’s targeted advertising policies and practices throughout its business operations."
Proposal: Performance Review of Audit and Risk Oversight Committee. Lead Proponent: AFL-CIO and Harrington Investments.
“When it comes to mitigating corporate risks and the threats they pose to shareholders, Meta and Alphabet have repeatedly dropped the ball,” said Brianna Harrington with Harrington Investments. “Performance reviews of each company’s risk management practices are long overdue as evident by the volume of scandals and controversies stemming from both companies and their products. The reckless mismanagement must come to an end.”
Proposal: Board Oversight of Harmful User-Generated Content. Lead Proponent: As You Sow on behalf of Thomas Van Dyck.
“Meta continues to maintain a platform that disseminates hate speech and disinformation while promoting child pornography and sex trafficking,” said As You Sow CEO Andrew Behar. “In dialogue, we hear that this is the best they can do; they have AI and other systems in place – we do not see these having an impact in the real world on people harmed by the content on a daily basis. It’s time to try a new strategy as this one clearly is not working.”
Proposal: HRIA Human Rights Transparency Reporting. Lead Proponent: SumOfUs.
“We often see the “Big Tech” companies solely from a US perspective and focus on the impacts on users here yet their operations are global and their impacts in overseas markets immense. In many locations, Meta and Alphabet are enmeshed with serious local human rights concerns,” said Christina O’Connell, Senior Manager of Investments and Shareholders for SumOfUs. “Our two member-led resolutions call for independent impact assessments. The first concerns dangerous ethnic and religious biased content and relationships in India, Meta’s largest user base and fastest-growing market. The second asks for an assessment of the impacts of Alphabet’s siting of data centers in human rights hot spots such as Saudi Arabia where the company is partnering with government-owned Saudi Aramco. This last is being filed for the second year after receiving a very strong vote in 2022.”
Proposal: Child Safety Online. Lead Proponent: Proxy Impact.
“Meta has billions of children and teen users and its platforms have been linked to numerous child safety impacts and social policy challenges," said Michael Passoff, CEO of Proxy Impact. "In 2021, Meta accounted for 92 percent of the nearly 29 million reported cases of online child sexual abuse material and studies show that approximately 40-50 percent of teens on Instagram have experienced cyberbullying. For a good reason, in September 2022 Meta was fined over $400 million for failing to safeguard children's information. Meta simply must do better to protect the digital rights of children using its platforms.”
Proposal: Give Each Share an Equal Vote. Lead Proponent: NorthStar Asset Management.
ALPHABET
Proposal: Give Each Share an Equal Vote. Lead Proponent: NorthStar Asset Management.
Proposal: Racial Equity Audit. Lead Proponent: Nathan Cummings Foundation.
“We know greater racial equity leads to better results for companies, their shareholders, and our society. Corporate racial equity audits can help companies like Alphabet uncover areas for improvement, ultimately leading to a stronger company and better returns. Rather than rebuffing investors’ request for a racial equity audit, Alphabet should embrace this critical tool,” said Laura Campos, Director, Corporate and Political Accountability, the Nathan Cummings Foundation
Proposal: Establish a Risk Oversight Committee. Lead Proponent: Harrington Investments.
“When it comes to mitigating corporate risks and the threats they pose to shareholders, Meta and Alphabet have repeatedly dropped the ball,” said Brianna Harrington with Harrington Investments. “Performance reviews of each company’s risk management practices are long overdue as evident by the volume of scandals and controversies stemming from both companies and their products. The reckless mismanagement must come to an end.”
Proposal: Algorithmic Systems Disclosures. Lead Proponent: Trillium Asset Management.
“The black box systems run by big tech suffer from a lack of public trust and confidence,” said Jonas D. Kron, Chief Advocacy Officer at Trillium Asset Management. “The impact that they can have on the lives of ordinary people and society means that regulators, civil society groups, communities, individuals, and investors are right to seek better transparency and accountability. Trillium’s shareholder proposal at Alphabet focuses on that lack of transparency and has thus far earned the support of 56% of shareholders not named Brin, Page, or Schmidt.”
Proposal: Human Rights Impact Assessment - AI/Targeted Ads. Lead Proponent: United Church of Canada Pension Plan.
Alphabet has the responsibility to guarantee that the digital rights of its billions of global users are in good hands. Without measures to address potential digital rights harms, there will be significant risks to all stakeholders involved," said Sarah Couturier-Tanoh, Associate Director Corporate Engagement & Advocacy, SHARE.
Proposal: Data Centers in Human Rights Hot Spots. Lead Proponent: SumOfUs.
AMAZON
Proposal: Customer Due Diligence. Lead Proponent: The American Baptist Home Mission Society, with Investor Advocates for Social Justice
"Shareholders continue to send a message to Amazon demanding transparency of its customer due diligence process and practices, as indicated in the resolution's increased support by shareholders over the past 3 years," said Courtney Wicks, Executive Director of IASJ. "Given the pervasive targeting of vulnerable and/or communities of color globally and domestically, it is imperative that Amazon ensure its products are not being used to commit human rights abuses. It is time Amazon does the responsible thing by committing in policy and practice to mitigate human rights risks."
“As faith-based investors, we remain concerned about the potential human rights risks associated with the end use of Amazon’s technologies on vulnerable populations, including immigrant communities, people of color, and conflict-affected areas both domestically and abroad by the company’s customers,” stated Dave Moore, Director of Investments at American Baptist Home Mission Society.
“Amazon’s technologies and services are powerful tools, which can do powerful harm in the hands of human rights abusers,” said Michael Connor, Executive Director of Open MIC. “Shareholders are rightly concerned that the company’s due diligence policies fail to prevent Amazon-enabled rights violations.”
Proposal: Transparency Reporting. Lead Proponent: Adrian Dominican Sisters, with OpenMIC
“Amazon’s e-commerce platform is used by billions of people all around the globe, yet the company’s disclosures regarding products and user-generated content that are restricted or banned from the platform fall far short of industry and international human rights standards,” said Sister Judy Byron, Director of the Northwest Coalition for Responsible Investment. “Shareholders are concerned that by failing to disclose censorship requests from governments, Amazon may be obscuring its participation in an array of human rights violations that reflect an irresponsible and dangerous status quo.”
Proposal: Facial Recognition Tech. Lead Proponent: Harrington Investments
“Opposition to Amazon’s Facial Recognition tech, 'Rekognition' has intensified over recent years, as pushback escalates from social justice advocates, Amazon employees, investors, customers, and citizens alike," said John Harrington, President & CEO of Harrington Investments, Inc. "Not only has the technology itself been shown to be problematic, but the implications of government entities utilizing this surveillance software infringe on civil and human rights. Other companies in the AI space have taken measures to eliminate the use and/or sale of similar technologies due to these growing concerns.
The indefinite moratorium on sales of Rekognition to police departments that Amazon issued does not address the sales of this technology to other government entities, particularly the sale to foreign government entities that are oppressive, authoritarian and have historically committed human rights violations. The ESG investment movement indicates growing awareness surrounding social issues, and investors are increasingly reluctant to support companies associated with such risks. We hope that Amazon will agree to an independent review of Rekognition to study and consider the multitude of risks that it poses to all stakeholders.”