Seven Corporate Giants Accused of Undermining Democracy

Some of the world’s biggest corporations have been accused of undermining democracy, as well as exacerbating global warming, funding far-right political groups and damaging human rights.

Amazon, Blackstone, ExxonMobil, Glencore, Meta, Tesla and Vanguard have been named in a new report, which says these mostly American corporate giants have been using lobbyists to push a right-wing agenda that clashes with a host of international conferences being held this year by the United Nations and other global bodies.

They have been declared “Corporate underminers of democracy” in the report, by the world’s largest trade union body, the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), which described them as “companies that benefit financially by continuing to violate trade union and human rights, monopolise media and technology, exacerbate climate catastrophe, and privatise public services.”

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The ITUC said its report is part of a project “to identify market-leading companies that are emblematic of corporate power’s adverse impact on democracy at work, in societies, and in global institutions.

“These companies have platformed or financed far-right and authoritarian political forces and are subject to active complaints and campaigns by unions and social movements around the world

The report alleges that Amazon – the largest online retailer and listed as the world’s fifth largest employer several years ago – is “notorious for its union busting and low wages on multiple continents, monopoly in e-commerce, egregious carbon emissions through its AWS data centres, corporate tax evasion, and lobbying at national and international level.”

“Amazon has also funded far-right political groups’ efforts to undermine women’s rights and antitrust legislation,” the union body alleged.

“The sheer scale of Amazon’s global lobbying operation undermines the democratic responsiveness of governments and institutions to the general population. In Europe, Amazon “now declares funding over 60 business associations, 15 think-tanks and forums, and 1 NGO.”

Tesla, Meta

The ITUC also described the electric car giant Tesla as “one of the most belligerent employers,” which is perhaps not surprising given what it described as founder and CEO Elon Musk’s “anti-union zeal.”

“Tesla’s hostility toward unions earned it a place on a list of Worst Union-Busters of 2023,” the report said, alleging that its factories had had serious safety violation issues.

Meanwhile, the report accused Meta – the owner of Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger and Threads – of using its algorithms to “aid right-wing political interests .. to spread hate-filled propaganda around the world.”

It said the social media giant, which reportedly has about four billion users on its platforms, “can quite literally alter humanity’s perceptions of reality,” but alleged that it had regularly been used by far-right groups to “stoke anti-immigrant hatred” and violence.

Last year, it retaliated against the Canadian government for passing legislation that would support local journalism “by shutting down distribution of news on Facebook,” it said, noting that Facebook had also been accused of global lobbying against data privacy laws.

ExxonMobil, it said, “spent millions in financing think tanks to produce climate denying research to skew the public discourse around climate. Now it lobbies against environmental regulatory frameworks.”

Glencore, meanwhile, was accused of “financing global campaigns against indigenous communities and activists to support its coal profits”.

Blackstone, a private equity giant led by billionaire Stephen Schwarzman, a backer of Donald Trump, was listed in ITUC report for allegedly funding far-right political movements, investments in fossil fuel projects and deforestation in the Amazon.

And Vanguard Group was included because of its role in “funding anti-democratic corporations”.