Stockholders Challenge Tech Companies on Censorship

Since entering the Chinese market, Microsoft, Yahoo, and Google have at times faced intense criticism in the United States for filtering out search results and other internet-related information deemed sensitive by authorities.

Now, New York City pensioners, who collectively own over US$1 billion in shares in the three companies, are asking their boards to challenge censorship rules in countries with authoritarian governments, including China. Comptroller William C Thompson, Jr has asked the internet service providers to honour Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which guarantees freedom to receive and impart information and ideas through any media regardless of frontiers.

“Technology companies in the United States have failed to develop adequate standards by which they can conduct business with authoritarian governments while protecting human rights, including freedom of speech and freedom of expression,” Thompson says. “Political censorship of the internet degrades the quality of that service and ultimately threatens the integrity and viability of the industry itself, both in the United States and abroad.”