*[Enwl-eng] Big Tech update

[enwl]

            I’m Vicky and I’m a campaign director with SumOfUs, and for the 
past year I’ve been coordinating our work to rein in the power of Big Tech 
companies.

            The fight for a better, safer internet is a long-haul one. But 
there’s no doubt we’re making major progress – in the last few months alone 
we’ve seen huge breakthroughs, from a legislative triumph in Europe to 
getting Meta’s harmful business model firmly on investors’ agenda. And none 
of it would have happened without you.

            Together we’re taking huge strides to hold giant tech 
corporations like Meta and Google to account and push back against their 
harmful practices. And we want to make sure you know about the amazing work 
you’ve made possible! So here’s some highlights from the year so far:

            Regulation at last!

            In April, after months of wrangling, European legislators 
finally agreed to pass a strong internet law – the Digital Services Act. It’s 
hard to overstate the importance of this legislation, which will be the 
first in the world to truly rein in the power of the tech giants and be a 
blueprint for governments everywhere.

            While it doesn’t include everything we campaigned for, the law 
brings in powerful new rules for the world’s biggest tech platforms, and 
that’s thanks to the relentless pressure SumOfUs members and other civil 
society groups put on lawmakers in Europe.

            At critical moments, we quickly mobilised to flood key MEPs with 
thousands of messages demanding action. And we coupled this with behind the 
scenes advocacy – including in-person deliveries to key decision-makers 
consisting of beautiful books with EU citizens’ hopes and dreams for a 
better online world. Tens of thousands of us also joined citizens and 
organisations across Europe in signing a People’s Declaration against Big 
Tech, showing that this is a priority for people everywhere.

            And it worked! We saw off attempts to weaken the bill, like a 
dangerous proposal for a media exemption which would have allowed pretty 
much anyone calling themselves media to spread disinformation with abandon. 
And we made sure transparency stayed at the heart of the bill, with measures 
to ensure independent researchers can access key data from the platforms so 
we aren't reliant on tech companies to come clean about the scale of 
disinformation on their platforms.

            My colleague Flora who coordinated the efforts targeting 
Brussels says “we wouldn't have such a strong law without this community, 
and now we have a blueprint for how governments around the world can 
regulate tech companies and protect users from harm.”

            Mark Zuckerberg’s toxic metaverse

            In addition to targeted pressure on decision-makers, we’ve been 
exposing the harms of Big Tech through cutting edge research that has 
garnered headlines across the world – making sure these harms stay firmly in 
the spotlight, and forcing the platforms to take action. As Facebook’s 
future looks increasingly uncertain, Mark Zuckerberg has been hyping up his 
metaverse plan. So SumOfUs swung into gear, sending researchers into the 
Metaverse to see and document what it is really like using the platform.

            In just an hour, they had been exposed to upsetting experiences 
from a gun shoot-out to sexual assault – the researchers were astounded by 
how quick and easy it was to stumble into disturbing situations and how 
traumatic virtual encounters can be.

            My colleague Andrea who oversaw the small team of researchers 
says: “Watching their firsthand encounters in the metaverse proved that the 
harms that can happen in a virtual world are very real and very disturbing. 
If Meta cares about the safety of its users, more protections need to be put 
into place before it’s too late.”

            The report received overwhelming media attention, with hundreds 
of outlets around the world from the US to Italy to India covering the 
research, and highlighting our recommendations.



            SumOfUs Metaverse research making headlines

            And we’re having an impact! Within days of our research gaining 
massive attention and dozens of journalists requesting comments from Meta, 
the company announced several measures to address harassment on its 
metaverse platform. Unfortunately the measures don’t go nearly far enough to 
adequately protect users from harm, but the rapid response from Meta shows 
that our campaigning is forcing a response.

            Rewan who helped oversee the report says “Instead of addressing 
all the toxic content flooding his current platforms, Zuckerberg is chasing 
the dollar signs by plunging head-first into the Metaverse. It’s incredibly 
irresponsible, and we’re already seeing serious harms. But our campaigning 
is creating shockwaves and we won’t be backing off anytime soon.”

            Investors on board!!

            We’ve also taken our members’ demands to clean up Big Tech to 
investors and company boards, filing shareholder resolutions that have 
helped inform and mobilise investors who are increasingly worried about the 
harms and believe running a tech business doesn’t have to mean putting 
profits over people. There are three that I’d love to highlight:

            Apple:

            We exposed Apple’s use of Uyghur forced labour in its supply 
chain and mobilized customers and shareholders to pressure the company to 
act. After we staged a bold visual protest at the Apple store in central DC, 
over a third of Apple investors voted in favour of our resolution. Over 
188,000 SumOfUs members have meanwhile signed the petition to date, and our 
Apple campaign has been covered by major global media outlets like the 
Financial Times and Reuters. As the US law to outlaw Uyghur forced labour 
comes into force, Apple is under growing pressure to root out forced labour 
in its supply chain.



            SumOfUs protest outside Apple store in central DC, in Politico



            Our Apple resolution in the Financial Times



            Meta:

            SumOfUs members co-filed two important resolutions at Meta – one 
challenging the company to report on the human rights impact of the 
Metaverse, and the second raising the ineffectiveness of the company’s Risk 
and Audit committee, which is supposed to fix the harms caused by platforms 
like Facebook and Instagram.

            We reached out to over 4000 major investors who have shares in 
Meta warning them of the risks that this company poses. We ran TV ads on US 
networks pointing out the need for change at Meta, and SumOfUs' Executive 
Director, Emma, addressed shareholders at Meta's annual meeting calling on 
them to back our resolutions. Even though the resolutions didn’t pass (Mark 
Zuckerberg owns the majority of votes and so can kill any proposal he doesn’t 
agree with) a third of independent shareholders backed our resolution – 
helping to add pressure on Zuckerberg to act.



            Our Metaverse resolution in the New York Post

            Alphabet:

            SumOfUs members forced Alphabet, Google’s parent company, to 
address the implications of placing data centres in countries with human 
rights abuses - for example Saudi Arabia, where the company intends to build 
a large facility. This resolution received a massive 57.6% of the 
independent investor vote. We can – and will - use this strong support in 
the coming months to pressure Google to reconsider partnerships with such 
brutal regimes.



            Our Alphabet resolution in the New York Post

            The best part of shareholder activism is getting to work closely 
with members of the SumOfUs community who put their hand up to help file the 
shareholder resolutions with their investments.

            Christina, who was burning the midnight oil to get these 
resolutions drafted and approved by the SEC, said “It’s been a very exciting 
shareholder season made possible by the SumOfUs members who helped us file. 
Bringing these important issues right to board members and investors gives 
us major leverage in our work together for a just future.”

            And Mari, one of the SumOfUs members who helped us file said 
“After over 50 years of investing I can assure you that the management 
deeply cares about shareholder opinion, and shareholders uniting is a 
powerful tool!”

            A new youth movement

            Last but not least, we’ve organised dozens of students at 
Stanford University to publicly pledge that they will not go work for Big 
Tech – kickstarting a larger campaign to get students to boycott the 
industry.

            Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen spoke at a SumOfUs event 
to inspire students to take a stand against the tech companies. And our 
billboard van has been driving around campus this Spring and Summer calling 
on students to boycott Big Tech. Perhaps best of all, a few weeks ago we 
flew an aeroplane banner during the commencement speech at the Stanford 
graduation reminding students to stand up against Big Tech’s power. And now 
we’re gearing up to roll out this campaign across the US.

            And that’s just in the last few months – we’ve achieved so much 
together already, taking on some of the world’s most powerful tech giants 
and winning. And because of this incredible community coming together, we 
can push for even bigger changes in the months ahead.


            With gratitude,
            Vicky and the SumOfUs team









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            SumOfUs is a community of people from around the world committed 
to curbing the growing power of corporations. We want to buy from, work for 
and invest in companies that respect the environment, treat their workers 
well and respect democracy. And we’re not afraid to stand up to them when 
they don’t.

            Please help keep SumOfUs strong by chipping in $3



                  Chip in $3



            From: Vicky Wyatt, SumOfUs
            Sent: Tuesday, July 26, 2022 11:40 PM
            Subject: Big Tech update








 
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