How corporate behavior affects human and labor rights are a central theme of proxy season but since 2021 proposals have focused on U.S. racial justice, taking inspiration from the Black Lives Matter movement. A push to support domestic U.S. labor organizing is a notable new angle in 2023, joining longstanding questions about complying with standards abroad. Vexing concerns about privacy and digital media content persists, as well, alongside specific issues about operating in conflict zones. The through-line is setting standards and reporting. (Left graph, below.)

Seventy-nine proposals have been filed to date for 2023, down from more than 90 last year—not counting those supporting anti-ESG ideas. A total of 6760 were pending as of mid-February, 12 have been withdrawn and nine still face substantive SEC challenges although there have been no omissions to date.

Two-thirds of resolutions filed last year went to votes, again illustrating how difficult it is for proponents and companies to agree on human rights. Nonetheless, rare common ground is visible aboutregarding business in China, where political repression is under fire from both sides of the political spectrum. (See Anti-ESG, p. 77, for proposals on Communist China.) Support for human rights proposals has increased and been above 25 percent on average since 2019. (Right graph, above.)

Members of ICCR file most of the human rights resolutions, but trade unions have been a major driver of the racial justice proposals which have received substantial support.

Racism & Indigenous Rights

Audits: Half of the 24 pending proposals seeking civil rights or racial justice audits are resubmissions that earned high votes in 2022. Proposals use similar formulations at a wide variety of companies. For the third year in a row, they point to public company commitments that clash with persistent inequalities that include deep underrepresentation for people of color and negative, differential impacts of company business in and on communities of color, how and to whom companies provide goods and services, or underrepresentation in upper-level jobs. The proponents argue that addressing systemic racism will make companies run better and be more equitable. Some cite findings from As You Sow’s Racial Justice Scorecard. Proposals also name specific stakeholder groups to consult and all seek external expertise and advice.

“Improving”—One proposal asks the boards of seven companies—Abbott Laboratories, American Water Works, Elevance Health, Johnson & Johnson, SVB Financial Group, Travelers and UnitedHealth Group—to “oversee a third-party audit” to assess and recommendations for “improving the racial impacts [or civil rights] of its policies, practices, products and services.”

Adverse impacts—At Alphabet and AT&T, the proposal asks about “adverse impacts on Black, Indigenous and People of Color” communities and says input on what to do should come from temporary vendors and contractors, or from labor or civil rights groups.

The proposal is similar at four financial firms (Bank of America, Goldman Sach, KeyCorp and TransUnion) and eight more (Altria, Chipotle, Coca-Cola, Comcast, GEO Group, Mohawk Industries, United Natural Foods and Walmart), asking about “adverse impact on nonwhite stakeholders and communities of color.” Variations outside the resolved clause raise issues tailored to each company, such as the disparate rates of tobacco use (Altria), the treatment of prisoners and detained immigrants (GEO Group), low rates of loans to Black borrowers (KeyCorp) or differential credit ratings (TransUnion).

At Wells Fargo, the proposal specifically asks that the company’s philanthropic and DEI efforts be excluded from the audit, saying that it wants to “broaden the scope” of the company’s planned racial justice audit.

SHAREHOLDERS AND LOCAL COMMUNITIES JOIN TO DEMAND RACIAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE

OLIVIA KNIGHT
Racial Justice Initiative Manager, As You Sow

As You Sow created the Racial Justice Initiative (RJI) in June 2020 following George Floyd’s murder. We then developed the Racial Justice Scorecard applying 27 key performance indicators (KPI) to the top 1000 companies to track and monitor corporate progress on racial equity. Environmental justice was addressed in four of the KPIs on Environmental fines and violations 2016-present and the adverse effects to BIPOC communities though a sector analysis of litigation from 2010-present. The incorporation of these KPIs and an Environmental Justice Framework for our research began a new focus at As You Sow and led directly to shareholder work on this issue.

There is a carve-out for any matters in litigation at Lumen Technologies and Salesforce. At Lumen, the proposal notes that upper-level management is notably not diverse and points to a 2021 controversy over celebrating Martin Luther King holiday. At Salesforce, the proponents cite instances of departures over “rampant microaggressions and gaslighting” and leadership that remains 70 percent white and male despite some recent improvements.

For two energy companies—Chevron (47.5 percent last year) and Valero Energy, the resolution asks about discriminatory impacts on communities of color. It says at Chevron the report “should clearly identify, and recommend steps to eliminate, business activities that further systemic racism, environmental injustice, threaten civil rights, or present barriers to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), both internally in its workforce and externally in impacted communities” and exclude any matters in litigation. (A similar but more detailed proposal at Southern is described below.)

SEC action— AT&T says a similar proposal from National Center for Public Policy Research (NCPPR)—which sees racial justice efforts as misplaced—did not earn enough for resubmission and was the same as this one—which supports the efforts. The NCPPR proposal earned 4 percent in 2022. Altria is arguing that the proposal is moot because the board already has agreed to conduct the requested independent assessment following a majority vote last year. The SEC has yet to respond to either contention. Travelers is reiterating a challenge at the SEC that was unsuccessful last year with regard to a proposal about underwriting police associations. It says the proposal would be illegal, cannot be implemented, is ordinary business and is too vague.

Withdrawals—At Global Payments, As You Sow withdrew after an agreement. The proposal asked only for disclosure of its “racial equity actions and targets” and how the company measures success. The company has promised to release data on its rates for recruitment, retention and diversity, report on its external actions on racial justice and release its EEO-1 Report by December 15, 2023. The Teamsters withdrew at United Natural Foods after it agreed to conduct the audit, as well. Proponents withdrew at Abbott Laboratories, but after a procedural challenge.

Environmental justice: Proposals about environmental justice last year earned 35.6 percent at Republic Services and were withdrawn at 3M and Chemours, but a similar proposal is before Southern this year. SEIU withdrew last year when the company agreed to publish a racial justice audit, but the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace, New Jersey, have returned with a more precise request about environmental justice that reiterates concerns similar to those from 2022, with a detailed resolved clause. It asks for:

a report on environmental justice, updated annually, describing its efforts, above and beyond legal and regulatory matters, to identify and reduce heightened environmental and health impacts from its operations on communities of color and low-income communities….[and] should consider:

- Past, present, and potential future disparate environmental and health impacts from its operations;
- How responsibilities are allocated within the company regarding governance and management of environmental justice issues;
- Types and extent of stakeholder consultation with impacted communities;
- Quantitative and qualitative metrics on how environmental justice impacts inform business decisions; and
- Whether and how Southern intends to improve its policies and practices in the future.

COMPANIES TAKING A CLOSER LOOK AT HOW RACIAL INEQUITY AFFECTS THEIR WORKERS, CUSTOMERS AND SHAREHOLDERS

EDGAR HERNÁNDEZ
Assistant Director, Strategic Initiatives Department, Service Employees International Union

RENAYE MANLEY
Deputy Director, Service Employees International Union

The third anniversary of the murder of George Floyd at the hands of the Minneapolis police officers is fast approaching. We are reminded of the work we began nearly three years ago by filing Racial Equity Audit (REA) shareholder proposals and how much work remains. The police killings of Black people across the U.S. continue to galvanize the movement for racial justice, and corporations continue to be held accountable socially and legally for their role in furthering the economic and political repression of nonwhite communities. About two dozen Racial Equity Audits resolutions appear headed to a vote as yet once again we mourn the death of a young Black man, Tyre Nichols, who died at the hands of Memphis police officers in January.

Indigenous rights: ICCR members have resubmitted last year’s proposals that did fairly well at Citigroup (34 percent) and Wells Fargo (25.9 percent, seeking a report on how effective their policies are “in respecting internationally-recognized human rights standards for Indigenous Peoples’ rights in its existing and proposed general corporate and project financing.” Both companies do have policies about respecting indigenous rights, but the proponents believe they could be more expansive.

Withdrawal—A procedural issue prompted a withdrawal at Wells Fargo but there was no agreement.

Policing: In addition to the audit proposal noted above, Arjuna Capital has resubmitted its proposal to Travelers about underwriting police associations. It received 9.9 percent last year and must earn at least 15 percent this year to qualify for resubmission. The proposal seeks a report:

on current company policies and practices, and options for changes to such policies, to help ensure its insurance offerings reduce and do not increase the potential for racist police brutality, nor associate our brand with police violations of civil rights and liberties. The report should assess related reputational, competitive, operational, and financial risks, and be prepared at reasonable cost, omitting proprietary, privileged or prejudicial information.

ENDING CHILD LABOR IN COCOA PRODUCTION

CONSTANCE RICKETTS
Head of Shareholder Activism, Tulipshare

In 2023, the chocolate industry is still not free from child labor. Millions of children are being robbed of their childhood and right to education while working on farms to meet corporate demand for cheaply sourced cocoa. Since this is an industry-wide issue, corporations tend to place the onus on the industry at large rather than assume liability individually.

Risky Business Locations

Proponents have filed 23 resolutions about corporate human rights policies and how they are implemented, with more general framing at 12 companies, sixfive specific to conflict zones and five more about military and personal weapons.

(See Anti-ESG section, p. 76, for proposals that take a different approaches to how companies should approach human rights issues covered in this section.)

Policy and Risk Assessments

High risk products: General Dynamics and Lockheed Martin again face requests for reporting on their assessments of human rights impacts “associated with high-risk products and services, including those in conflict-affected areas or violating international law.” A similar proposal earned 25 percent at General Dynamics last year and is in its third year at Lockheed Martin (20 percent last year and 32.2 percent in 2021).

Targeted ads: The two big social media firms face resubmitted proposals asking them to report on how their targeted ads work. The resolution wants Alphabet and Meta Platforms each to provide an independent assessment of “the actual and potential human rights impacts of… targeted advertising policies and practices throughout its business operations, exempting any matters in litigation or regulatory enforcement.” The proposal remains pending at Meta, where it earned 23.8 percent last year, but SHARE withdrew after the company agreed to meet with human rights experts from the group Ranking Digital Rights to discuss advertising technology.

Insurers: Domini Impact Investments LLC still has pending a new proposal at Chubb that it withdrew after an agreement at Hartford Financial Services. While the resolved clause discusses general human rights issues, the body of the proposal concentrates on indigenous peoples, asking for a report “describing how human rights risks and impacts are evaluated and incorporated in the underwriting process.”

Walmart: The Adrian Dominican Sisters want a report on Walmart’s human rights due diligence process and this particular proposal is new to the company, asking it to explain how it identifies, assesses, prevents and mitigate “actual and potential adverse human rights impacts in its domestic and foreign operations and supply chains.” The 2023 proposal notes difficult working conditions for domestic employees but also those in the company’s long global supply chain. (Five various domestic decent work proposals have gone to votes at Walmart since 2020, earning about 12 percent.)

Child labor: The American Baptist Church and Tulipshare address child labor in the West African cocoa supply chain at two companies. It is more specific at Hershey, where a similar proposal earned 7.8 percent last year. It calls for a report

describing if, and how, Hershey’s Living Wage & Income Position Statement and planned implementation steps will put the company on course to eradicate child labor in all forms from the company's West African cocoa supply chain by 2025. The report should include:

- How Hershey plans to achieve 100% sourcing visibility at the farm level of its cocoa by 2025, including through increased transparency, given that 32% of its cocoa volume cannot be traced to the farm level;
- Whether and/or how Hershey plans to raise farm gate prices;
- How Hershey plans to partner with the Ghanian and Ivorian governments and cocoa industry peers to promote living income for cocoa farmers.

Investors have not considered this issue specifically at Mondelēz International recently and Tulipshare and Proxy Impact want it to “adopt targets and publicly report quantitative metrics appropriate to assessing whether Mondelēz is on course to eradicate child labor in all forms from the Company’s cocoa supply chain by 2025.” It says metrics to include could be “current estimates of the total numbers of children in its supply chain on a regional basis, working in hazardous jobs, working during school hours, and employed after school hours.”

SEC action—Mondelēz is arguing it can be omitted because it is being sued on the subject. Other proponents have dodged this argument by noting reports can exclude matters in litigation, but Tulipshare did not so an omission seems possible.

Product use and supply chain: Investors will again vote on a proposal at Caterpillar questioning how its products are ultimately used and if they violate the company’s policies; investors have voted on similar proposals eight times since 2010, usually earning support in the low 20-percent range. A resolution about sales of CAT products (such as heavily armored construction equipment used in conflict zones) earned 10.6 percent in 2022 and 2.8 percent in 2019.

At TJX, the focus is on potential forced, child and prison labor in the supply chain, and seeks a report on how effective the company’s process is for eliminating these problems. A similar version of this proposal earned 24.6 percent in 2022. Investors have long raised concerns about labor and human rights in the TJX supply chain, with recent votes of 29 percent (2020) and 38 percent (2019).

Fair Food: Kroger has been under fire for years from social investors about how workers are treated in its food supply chain, with a detailed proposal last year about workers’ treatment during the pandemic earning 20.9 percent, down from a vote of 44.7 percent in 2020 for a more general proposal. This year’s version is quite specific, asking it to “take the necessary steps to pilot participation in the Fair Food Program for the Company’s tomato purchases in the Southeast United States, in order to mitigate severe risks of forced labor and other human rights violations in Kroger's produce supply chain.” The referenced program is a partnership between workers, growers, retailers and consumers and includes fellow retailers such as Trader Joe’s, Walmart, Whole Foods Market (owned by Amazon.com) and Yum Brands, among other.

Conflict Zones & Problematic Locations

Data centers: SumOfUs has returned to Alphabet with questions about its data center locations, asking whether it can ensure human rights violations do not occur when it offshores data warehouses to countries with well-known track records of abuse. The proposal was new in 2022 and earned 17.1 percent. This year mentions a data center in Saudi Arabia, while last year it mentioned other countries of concern including Indonesia, Qatar and India. The proposal asks for a report “assessing the siting of Google Cloud Data Centers in countries of significant human rights concern, and the Company’s strategies for mitigating the related impacts.”

Uyghur labor: SumOfUs withdrew after an agreement a new proposal at Apple that said:

in light of human rights abuses in the region and the reputational and operational impacts posed to Apple, the Company publish within one year a phaseout transition plan, at reasonable expense and excluding proprietary information, to cease supply chain activities involving labor from the Uyghur region, including labor transfers of workers from the Uyghur region to other areas of China.

Apple will provide new details in upcoming reports about its supplier responsibility program, and the parties will continue engagement.

Genocide: The Unitarian Universalists want a report from Chevron within six month of the annual meeting “evaluating the feasibility of adopting a policy of not doing business with governments that are complicit in genocide and/or crimes against humanity as defined in international law.” Chevron says it can be omitted because a similar proposal in 2022 did not earn enough to qualify for resubmission (a proposal on genocide earned 12.4 percent in 2022 and 7.2 percent in 2018, which would mean that if they are considered the same it would have needed 15 percent last year). The proposal raises specific concerns about operations in Burma (Myanmar), the Democratic Republic of Congo and Nigeria. Chevron said it would withdraw from Myanmar in January 2022 but still operates in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Nigeria.

RUSSIAN MILITARY’S RELIANCE ON DUAL-USE COMPONENTS EXPOSES COMPANIES TO HUMAN RIGHTS RISKS

AMY CARR
Senior Shareholder Advocate, Friends Fiduciary Corporation

The Russian war of aggression against Ukraine has already resulted in more than 69,000 Russian war crimes and crimes of aggression registered by the Office of Prosecutor General of Ukraine. In addition, 18,900 Ukrainians have been killed or injured, and millions more have been forced to flee their homes. With this humanitarian crisis, investor concerns have grown about the human rights risks faced by companies with operations and/or value chain activities in conflict-affected and high-risk areas (CAHRA), which are characterized by widespread human rights abuses and violations of national or international law. Recognizing these risks, the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises call on businesses to conduct heightened human rights due diligence in such areas.

China: At Meta Platforms, the Minderoo Foundation has withdrawn a proposal asking about the company’s operations in China, but after a procedural challenge. It is almost the same as a proposal from the right-wing National Legal and Policy Center, seeking a report “describing Meta’s engagement with the Chinese Communist Party over the last decade including board oversight, and discussing if, and how, Meta might mitigate geopolitical risk related to its operations in China and the extent of Board oversight of such risk in the future.” (See p. 78 for the NLPC version.)

Mindaroo notes the Chinese government’s efforts to “oversee technology companies’ algorithms, antitrust rules for internet platform companies, regulations on data protection, and reductions of the amount of time children can play online games.” With executive action by the Biden administration to protect data on privacy and national security grounds, the proposal sees looming risks to Meta given its ties: China is the company’s second largest source of revenue and contributing $5 billion each year. In addition, the proposal also cites supply chain disruptions for manufacturing for the company’s new Metaverse project. It concludes more transparency is needed for investors.

Financial services: A new proposal at PayPal asks for

a policy that ensures that people in conflict zones, such as in Palestine, do not suffer discriminatory exclusion from the company’s financial services, or alternatively, if the company chooses not to establish this policy, provide an evaluation of the economic impact the policy of exclusion has on the affected populations as well as the company’s finances, operations and reputation.

The proponent points to the company’s statement that “affordable and convenient financial services should be a right for all rather than a privilege for the few” and notes it operates in “high-conflict countries such as Yemen and Somalia and heavily-sanctioned countries such as Russia.” But it says Palestinians cannot use PayPal even though companies including Visa, Mastercard and Western Union serve these customers, who also gained access to Apple Pay in 2021.

Ukraine: Friends Fiduciary wants a report from Texas Instruments about exposure to risks connected to the war in Ukraine, raising a new issue. The resolution cites a report from an eminent U.K. military think that found weapons deployed by Russia contain components from Western technology firms, including Texas Instruments. The proposal calls for an independent report on the company’s “due diligence process to determine whether…customers’ use of its products or services contribute or are linked to violations of international law.” Proponents previously filed nine shareholder proposals at Texas Instruments on environmental and social issues since 2010 and withdrawn all after engagements, so an agreement seems possible with the company.

Weapons

All but one of five resolutions about personal and military weapons are new and four are pending.

Gun sales: The New York City pension funds have withdrawn a proposal at American Express which remains pending at Mastercard, asking for a report about how the company makes decisions about

any application to the International Standards Organization (ISO) to establish a merchant category code (MCC) for standalone gun and ammunition stores. This report should cover American Express’ governance of MCC standards, as well as disclose and explain the justification for its position on any applications to create an MCC for gun and ammunition stores.

The withdrawal came after AmEx confirmed it would use new merchant codes for firearms sales; the company also had lodged a challenge saying the proposal was moot because of this action, but also said it would micromanage. Mastercard is making the same argument and also says it does not raise a significant social policy issue. (A proposal in 2022 from the Rhode Island Treasurer asking Mastercard for a report on the use of its payment network for weapons sales earned 10.3 percent support.)

Defense industry impacts: The peace group CODEPINK is echoing recent ideas about avoiding systemic risk and has a new proposal at BlackRock, asking for a report “on the potential material risks to all stakeholders” of its U.S. Defense and Aerospace exchange-traded fund. It asserts that defense and aerospace companies in the fund pose unacceptable global human costs from their GHG emissions and by enabling war and conflict.

Military weapons: Military weapons also are on the mind of Investor Advocates for Social Justice (IASJ), which has a different version of earlier proposals to PNC Financial Services, where proponents previously asked for an end to financing nuclear weapons. That proposal received 7.7 in 2022 and 7.9 percent in 2021. This year, the proposal swaps out “controversial weapons” for “nuclear weapons” but is very similar in its request to report on environmental and social impacts of such financing. The company says it did not earn the 15 percent needed last year to qualify for a vote this year.

Gun marketing: CommonSpirit Health is following up with gunmaker Sturm, Ruger about gun risks. It asks for a report “assessing whether Ruger's advertising and marketing practices may pose financial and/or reputational risks sufficient to have material impacts on the company's finances and operations due to levels of gun violence.” Earlier votes at the company have been quite high—a human rights risk assessment last year received 68.5 percent vote and a 2018 proposal about gun safety and harm mitigation earned 68.7 percent.

Trade Union Rights

The New York City and State Comptrollers, alongside social investment firms, have 12 new proposals about respecting labor organizing rights, with two variants:

Adopt non-interference policy: The first is more detailed and asks six companies—Delta Air Lines, Chipotle Mexican Grill, DoorDash, Netflix and Tesla—to “adopt and disclose” a policy not to interfere with “the rights to freedom of association and collective bargaining in its operations, as reflected in the International Labour Organization’s Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work (“Fundamental Principles”). It specifies in the resolved clause that the policy should include:

- Non-interference when employees seek to form or join a trade union, and a prohibition against acting to undermine this right or pressure employees not to form or join a trade union;
- Good faith and timely collective bargaining if employees form or join a trade union;
- Uphold the highest standard where national or local law differs from international human rights standards;
- Define processes to identify, prevent, account for, and remedy practices that violate or are inconsistent with the Policy.

At Rivian Automotive, the electric truck company, As You Sow uses a request to adopt a human rights policy to focus on organizing rights as well, asking it to describe “steps to identify, assess, prevent, mitigate, and, where appropriate, remedy adverse human rights impacts connected to the business.” It notes Rivian currently does not commit to implementation of the ILO’s labor rights standards. The proposal also cites alleged efforts against unions which the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is investigating.

SUPPORTING WORKERS’ RIGHT TO FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATION

MICHAEL GARLAND
Assistant Comptroller, Corporate Governance and Responsible Investment Office of New York City Comptroller

The New York City Retirement Systems (NYCRS) submitted shareholder proposals at seven companies to safeguard workers’ freedom of association and collective bargaining rights, which are defined as fundamental human rights under internationally recognized human rights standards.
The proposals submitted to Chipotle, DoorDash and Netflix ask their boards to adopt and disclose a policy on their commitment to freedom of association, particularly with respect to noninterference, and collective bargaining, as reflected in the International Labour Organization’s (ILO) Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work.

Assess adherence: The second proposal is at six companies—Amazon.com, Apple, CVS Health, Gannett, Starbucks and Walmart. It also references core ILO standards and principles, notes each company has a human rights policy, and asks for a third-party assessment of “management non-interference when employees exercise their right to form or join a trade union as well as steps to remedy any practices inconsistent with [the company’s] stated commitments.” (At Apple it added “those in the supply chain.”)

Withdrawal—Proponents withdrew at Apple after an agreement they describe as significant. New York City Comptroller Brad Lander said in a January press release that the proponent coalition held $7 billion worth of the company’s stock and announced that the company has agreed to assess its compliance with collective bargaining and freedom of association rights, following questions about this commitment when Apple allegedly interfered with unionization drives by some of its retail store workers. The NLRB was investigating 14 unfair labor practices complaints last August, just before the proposal was filed. (A second proposal similar to the first was challenged on the grounds it was duplicative, but that proponent withdrew.)

Media & Technology

Just over a dozen resolutions this year ask about issues that have vexed investors and the public since the dawn of the Internet, noting risks associated with how repressive governments control media platforms, misuse technology and threaten privacy, and how social media can spread hate speech and foment and publicize violence. There is a new resolution about India this year but the proponent concerns are similar to ones raised in the past.

Content

Algorithms: Trillium Asset Management has returned to Alphabet with a proposal that received 19.6 percent last year, seeking transparency and asking again for a report that would

provide more quantitative and qualitative information on its algorithmic systems. Exact disclosures are within management’s discretion, but suggestions include, how Alphabet uses algorithmic systems to target and deliver ads, error rates, and the impact these systems had on user speech and experiences. Management also has the discretion to consider using the recommendations and technical standards for algorithm and ad transparency put forward by the Mozilla Foundation and researchers at New York University.

META FAILS TO ADDRESS ONLINE CHILD SAFETY RISKS

MICHAEL PASSOFF
CEO, Proxy Impact

The internet was not developed with children in mind.
Meta is the world’s largest social media company, used by billons of children and teenagers. Its platforms—including Facebook, Instagram, Messenger and WhatsApp—have been linked to numerous child safety problems including a mental health crisis for young people, data privacy violations, age verification failures, cyberbullying, self-harm and child sexual exploitation, grooming and trafficking.

Online safety: Boston Common Asset Management has a new proposal at Alphabet, focused on how harmful content on YouTube faces tightening regulations around the world. It asks for a report “disclosing whether and how the Company intends to minimize legislative risk by aligning YouTube policies and procedures worldwide with the most comprehensive and rigorous online safety regulations, such as the European Union’s Digital Service Act and the UK Online Safety Bill.” The resolution points out that despite efforts by management, YouTube “remains an important part of the Child Sexual Abuse Exploitation Ecosystem” all around the world, often resulting in trafficking. The proposal also notes that some YouTube channels “have rapidly become amplification chambers for disinformation, hateful content and incendiary and violent material.” A new U.S. State Department Roadmap for the Global Partnership for Action on Gender-based Online Harassment and Abuse is trying to combat the problem, but legislation also has been proposed in California and the United Kingdom, as well as in the U.S. Congress. The proposal suggest the company can do more to get ahead of coming legislation.

At Meta Platforms, another reservoir of harmful child sexual content, Proxy Impact last year did not earn the 25 percent now needed to qualify for resubmission in a proposal’s third year, with its proposal about child sexual exploitation online. (At dual class stock companies such as Meta, votes above 25 percent rarely occur. The 2022 proposal earned 17.3 percent or about 57 percent of the non-management controlled vote). This year, Proxy Impact expanded its ask to cover other online risks to children including child mental health, data privacy violations, age verification failures, cyberbullying, self-harm, and sextortion. It asks for targets and an annual report with “quantitative metrics appropriate to assessing whether Meta has improved its performance globally regarding child safety impacts and actual harm reduction to children on its platforms.”

India: SumOfUs has filed another new proposal at Meta about its platforms’ use in India by political extremists. It calls for the company to commission:

a nonpartisan assessment of allegations of political entanglement and content management biases in its operations in India, focusing on how the platform has been utilized to foment ethnic and religious conflict and hatred, and disclose results in a report to investors…Among other things, the assessment can evaluate:

- Evidence of political biases in Company activities, and any steps to ensure it is non-partisan;
- Whether content management algorithms and personnel in India are at scale and multilingual capacity necessary to curtail mass
dissemination of hate speech and disinformation;
- The report should also integrate or append the full India [human rights risk assessment analysis] previously commissioned, so that investors can read the full recommendations and any evidence germane to biases, exposures and impacts.

The proposal points out that Meta has more than half a billion users in India and appears to be “a critical catalyst of religious violence” by distributing anti-Muslim hate speech, with posts supporting the razing of mosques and killing Muslims. It says a top Facebook employee appears to have shown partisan bias in the 2014 election, and that moderators are not equipped to work on content because they do not recognize many of the country’s 22 official languages. It concludes, “Meta’s lack of transparency concerning India presents a clear and present danger to the Company's reputation, operations and investors.”

Community standards: As You Sow has resubmitted a proposal that earned about 19 percent last year and in 2021, also about Meta content. It asks the board to analyze and report on:

why the enforcement of “"Community Standards”" as described in the “"Transparency Center”" has proven ineffective at controlling the dissemination of user content that contains or promotes hate speech, disinformation, or content that incites violence and/or causes harm to public health or personal safety.

Privacy

Government censorship: One of three proposals about government censorship has been withdrawn and two remain pending:

• The Adrian Dominicans want Amazon.com to report more fully about the company’s cooperation with repressive governments. The proposal seeks, within a year, a report with “more detailed quantitative disclosures on removal or restriction of content and products on the Amazon.com platform due to government requests or the company’s voluntary removal or restrictions in anticipation or interpretation of domestic or foreign government requirements.” The proponents note restrictions on “search results for LGBTQ+- related products in the United Arab Emirates after being threatened with penalties by that government,” and longstanding cooperation with repression of free speech in China.

• Tulipshare this year asks PayPal for the first time for changes to its policy, and to provide more information and “clear explanations of the number and categories of account suspensions and closures that may reasonably be expected to limit freedom of expression or access to information or financial services.”

  SEC action—PayPal is arguing at the SEC that the proposal is ordinary business since it relates to account management and legal compliance, and because it would micromanage, but this reasoning has not convinced the SEC in the past.

  Withdrawal—In response to a proposal like the one at PayPal, Apple has agreed to provide more information on why it removed or rejected apps, within the year. The proposal there was a resubmission that earned 33.9 percent in 2022. (A proposal from the National Center for Legal and Policy Center makes a similar request in 2023 at Meta, arguing there is a problem with U.S. government censorship and abrogation of free speech rights; see p. 78.)

Surveillance: Amazon.com has repeat proposals from two proponents about surveillance:

• The American Baptist Church again wants an independent report “assessing Amazon’s customer due diligence process to determine whether customers’ use of its products and services with surveillance, computer vision, or cloud storage capabilities contributes to human rights violations.” Its concern is how technology can help governments violate human or civil rights and suggests problems with the biometric recognition software Rekognition, the Ring doorbell system, and the company’s “vague standards regarding information sharing with law enforcement.” Other concerns are a plan to host the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s biometric database for use in border security operations, products used to surveil Palestinians and data centers in repressive Middle Eastern countries. This proposal or a similar one has earned growing investor support that reached 40.3 percent in 2022 in its third year.

• Harrington Investments has resubmitted a proposal more specifically about Rekognition that also has seen growing support that hit 40.7 percent last year in its fourth year. It asks for a report on:

- The extent to which such technology may endanger, threaten or violate privacy and/ or civil rights, and unfairly or disproportionately target or surveil people of color, immigrants and activists in the US;
- The extent to which such technologies may be marketed and sold to authoritarian or repressive governments, including those identified by the US Department of State Country Reports on Human Rights Practices;
- The potential loss of good will and other financial risks associated with these human rights issues.