"Human Rights Abuses in Tech Sector Threaten Portfolios, Say Investors", 15 January 2019

A group of 49 investors representing $US700B in assets and led by the Investor Alliance for Human Rights, a coalition of global funds focused on advancing corporate human rights due diligence, has delivered a statement to 22 Information and Communication Technology (ICT) companies highlighting growing financial and reputational risks in the ICT sector due to the mishandling of user data and real and potential human rights abuses.

Specifically, the statement urges ICT companies to use the Ranking Digital Rights (RDR) Corporate Accountability Index as a tool to help them improve their governance systems and performance on salient human rights risks related to privacy and freedom of expression. The investors say they rely on the RDR Index to assist in investment decision-making and to inform corporate engagements with the ICT sector...

...In 2018 alone, massive data breaches affected hundreds of millions of users around the world. Social media platforms were manipulated to aid illegal and discriminatory political agendas. Companies censored content of human rights advocates at the behest of authoritarian governments while providing direct access to real-time user communications to monitor citizens’ social, political and economic behavior. Investors argue that these high-profile incidents have long-term legal and financial consequences that threaten portfolios and erode stakeholder confidence.