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Article

20 Dec 2018

Author:
Patrick Temple-West, Politico

Google shareholder files petition with Alphabet to evaluate potential impact of ‘Project Dragonfly’ on investors

"Google shareholder revolts over 'Project Dragonfly'," 19 Dec 2018

Azzad Asset Management, a socially responsible investment firm, on Monday filed a shareholder petition asking Google's parent company, Alphabet Inc., to evaluate the potential impact on investors if Google developed a censored search engine in China and to publish a report on its findings by Oct. 30, 2019. Google's work on the project may pose significant legal, reputational and financial risk to the company and its shareholders, the petition says. Critics say Project Dragonfly would further the Chinese government’s efforts to block the free flow of information to its citizens... Alphabet did not respond to requests for comment about the Azzad shareholder proposal... “When this issue was brought to our attention, it immediately raised concerns," said Joshua Brockwell, director of investment communications at Azzad, about Google's Project Dragonfly.

... The Project Dragonfly proposal is just one example of increasing investor scrutiny at big technology companies going into 2019. In October, New York State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli and Arjuna Capital filed a shareholder proposal asking Facebook Inc. to publish a report about how the company oversees content published on its platform... Facebook spokesperson Nora Chan declined to comment but said the company will respond to such proposals in its annual shareholder materials. [also refers to McDonald's]

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