Consumer group SumOfUs believes that Alphabet is too large to be managed effectively and that creates conditions for collusion with oppressive regimes
International consumer group SumOfUs has submitted a shareholder resolution on behalf of Alphabet shareholders calling for the company to be broken up. It proposes that Alphabet study alternatives to its current structure that would make the company more manageable and its management more accountable to shareholders, highlighting concerns about human rights abuses.
Concerned that Alphabet is now too large and complex to be managed effectively, the resolution cites anti-competitive practices, privacy violations, data leaks, and illegal location tracking committed by the company –– as well as reports that Google continues to work on developing a search engine that censors blacklisted words and assists in the cyber-surveillance of citizens in collaboration with the Government of China.
In 2010, Google withdrew from China, citing censorship concerns. The human rights situation under China’s rule has deteriorated drastically since then, yet internal reports suggest that work on Project Dragonfly continues. One million Uyghurs are currently being detained in internment camps where torture is rampant and Tibet has since become one of the most closed and repressive places on earth, according to freedom and democracy watchdog Freedom House.
Activists from the Stop Google Censorship campaign reached out to Sundar Pichai with their concerns and received no response. Furthermore, an international day of action was held on January 18, 2019 to stop Project Dragonfly was met with international media attention, but inaction by Google.
Alphabet’s AGM will take place on June 19, 2019 in Sunnyvale, California.
Sondhya Gupta, Campaign Manager at SumOfUs, said:
“Google is the leader of a new breed of digital corporation that for too long has been allowed to play fast and loose with ethics under the guise of innovation. They promised us a new way of doing business, as ethical employers whose products would catalyse transparency, freedom and democracy. In practice, all they have done is found a new way to line their pockets at the expense of the most marginalised and vulnerable people. Google must be reined in and take responsibility for the harm it is doing – from colluding with repressive regimes to allowing the spread of hateful, extremist content.”
Lhadon Tethong, Executive Director at Tibet Action Institute, said:
“There is growing consensus that Xi Jinping's regime is making gains in its bid to spread China's authoritarian model globally while seeking to dismantle long-standing human rights norms and institutions. Given this backdrop, it is a moral outrage that Google is making plans not just to return to China, but to directly aid the Chinese government's censorship and surveillance regime through Project Dragonfly. Tibetans, Uyghurs and many other groups suffering under Beijing's iron-fisted rule are fighting for their very survival and Google's vast reserves of talent and wealth should be harnessed to bring them more freedom, not further repression.”
