This release called “Alphabet Shareholders To Vote On Breaking Up Company That Owns Google” is from SumOfUs and was sent to Zennie62Media.
Sunnyvale, CA – Tomorrow, June 19, Alphabet shareholders will vote on a resolution calling for the company to study a breakup, as its complexity has made it too big to manage and the company has incurred allegations of human rights violations among other risks to shareholder value. Amplifying the calls, activists will demonstrate outside at least 15 Google offices around the world.
Citing concerns about human rights abuses, anticompetitive practices, privacy violations, data leaks, and illegal location tracking, the resolution proposes that Alphabet study alternatives to its current structure that would make the company more manageable and its executives more accountable to shareholders. The motion was submitted on behalf of Alphabet shareholders by consumer group SumOfUs.
Read the shareholder proposal here: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1652044/000130817919000205/lgoog2019_def14a.htm#lgooga069
The shareholder resolution highlights that the company has committed anticompetitive practices, privacy violations, data leaks, and illegal location tracking, as well as its development of ‘Project Dragonfly’ – a censored search engine for China.
On Sunday, CEO Sundar Pichai signaled that Google had canceled ‘Dragonfly’, saying that the company has no plans to relaunch in China. The move follows months of public opposition. Over 86,000 people signed a petition by consumer group SumOfUs calling on the company to #DropDragonfly, while the Stop Google Censorship coalition sent Pichai four letters – never acknowledged – raising their concerns about ‘Dragonfly’. Activists are concerned that the lack of transparency around the decision creates no assurances that the company will uphold human rights in the future.
The shareholder resolution will be presented at the AGM by Sonamtso, an activist at Students for a Free Tibet.
Sondhya Gupta, Campaign Manager at SumOfUs, said: “Google-Alphabet is in crisis. Straying far from its original mission of ‘do no evil’, in the past year alone, the company has failed to get in front of allegations of sexual harassment, racism and gender inequality. It finally appears to have dropped its notorious ‘Project Dragonfly’, but without any transparency or consultation of the communities affected. This way of doing business can’t go on. An overhaul of Google-Alphabet’s management structures, which maximizes human rights and forces the company out of its crisis, is clearly long overdue.”
Sonamtso, Campaigns and Communications Director, Students for a Free Tibet, said: “For years, China has arbitrarily detained and imprisoned Tibetans for online posts and searches that the government classes as “sensitive”. Google’s ‘Project Dragonfly’ reinforces this assault on liberty by entirely sidelining marginalized people’s voices. If launched, Google will not only prop up the authoritarian crackdown across China, and the lands it occupies, but also set an extremely dangerous precedent for internet freedom around the world. Google has the opportunity to make the right decision and prioritize human rights and freedom by canceling ‘Project Dragonfly’ and upholding its brand as an ethical company.”