Open MIC
Open Media and Information Companies Initiative (Open MIC) works to hold companies like Amazon, Microsoft, Apple, Google & Meta accountable via shareholder engagement.
#shareholderengagement #responsibleinvestment
- For investors, human rights due diligence matters—especially when tech companies sell cloud and AI tools to military end-users. More from @iasj.bsky.social: iasj.org/investors-signal-ur…
- We are entering our next chapter with the appointment of Audrey Mocle as Executive Director. Audrey has served as Deputy Director since 2022 and brings deep experience in corporate human rights responsibility, investor engagement, and technology governance.
- She succeeds Michael Connor, Open MIC’s founding Executive Director. Michael will continue supporting the organization as senior adviser and project director.
- Under Michael’s leadership, Open MIC built a globally respected model for investor-led advocacy on technology and human rights—work that Audrey will continue to expand.
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View full threadThis transition aligns with the launch of Material Tech, our new multimedia platform for timely, data-driven insights on how digital technologies shape society and the economy. Subscribe: materialtech.beehiiv.com/subscribe
- At #IGF2025 in June, experts from @heartlandorg.bsky.social, BHRRC, @openmicmedia.bsky.social, and UN B-Tech held a roundtable on dual-use tech, used by both civilians + military. Key takeaways here: loom.ly/-h_Wn0k
- Union shareholders are fighting back against abusive AI. Audrey Mocle of @openmicmedia.bsky.social weighs in on the power shareholders have to hold Big Tech accountable. More from @inthesetimes.com: loom.ly/NZz5RTA
- “I certainly think that investors are one of the last really strong bulwarks against the unconstrained development of this new technology," Mocle says.
- Reposted by Open MICIn our new Future of Finance episode, @michaelconnor.bsky.social, Executive Director of @openmicmedia.bsky.social, explains how shareholder proposals drive change — even when they don’t pass. Watch: www.youtube.com/watch?v=PkWF... Listen: www.podbean.com/eas/pb-kcutz...
- Our director joined @georgesdyer.bsky.social on the @ien-online.bsky.social Future of Finance podcast to unpack how investors can steer AI toward long-term value — and how engagement can move the market toward safer innovation.
- • Engagement → board-level oversight (e.g., privacy) • AI risks: misinfo/bias, labor impacts, energy & water use • Vote proxies, instruct managers, add guardrails in VC/PE • Smart policy builds trust
- Understanding AI: Four-Part Series starts today — 6:00 PM ET @datasociety.bsky.social is co-hosting a four-part event series exploring the societal implications of #AI. 🌐 Visit the Data & Society website for information and livestream: loom.ly/OgpNTyo
- Human Rights | Technology | Artificial Intelligence Upcoming global events offer insights and opportunities to shape policy on emerging technologies and their impacts on communities around the world 👇
- 6/23 - 6/27: Internet Governance Forum (IGF) 2025 (@intgovforum.bsky.social) 7/7 - 7/22: World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS)+20 High-Level Event 2025 (WSIS Process) 7/8: AI for Human Rights: Smarter, Faster, Fairer Monitoring (part of AI for Good Summit 2025)
- Visit our Events page for more information about these events, and links to register: loom.ly/zWtyuPQ
- "Layoffs described as progress" Tech companies and the politicians who love them 💕🤖 are cutting jobs with the excuse that AI is better than people. Not only is that bad for workers, but in most cases it's just not true. AI is not nearly as advanced as they're claiming.
- Instead, employers are simply masking politically and economically motivated downsizing as "inevitable AI progress." Even worse, legislators are intentionally failing to pass laws that will protect workers if AI does come for their jobs.
- @nataliyan.bsky.social of the Berkeley AI Research Lab urges stakeholders to concentrate on the belief systems around AI, which are at least as disruptive as the products themselves. More in @techpolicypress.bsky.social: loom.ly/vXtGsew
- Going a big step beyond simply hiring tech companies to build out defense systems, the U.S. Army is actually swearing in tech executives to consult internally. Palantir, OpenAI, Meta and Thinking Machines Lab are represented by newly minted lieutenant colonels.
- To AI startups, it looks like the only certainty right now is national defense spending. DOGE cuts and Pentagon budget increases are pushing tech companies to move away from products that support health or international development and instead build the AI-powered war machine of the future 👇
- More from Mohar Chatterjee in POLITICO: loom.ly/0MiD9WE
- "...transparency and accountability can no longer be optional." One of the key findings in the latest Ranking Digital Rights Index shows that privately owned platforms (like X and TikTok) are failing to provide basic transparency on governance, risks, and corporate responsibility.
- Researcher Jie Chang suggests that a two-sided approach is needed to push private companies into being more transparent: both regulatory pressure from governments, and proactive internal company policies.
- Read the full essay here as part of @sdgbenchmarks.bsky.social's 2025 Ranking Digital Rights Index: rankingdigitalrights.org/bte25/privat...
- Reposted by Open MICNEW REPORT: Artificial Power, our 2025 Landscape Report, is out. Today’s AI isn’t just being used by us, it’s being used on us. We urgently need to reclaim public power over the future trajectory of AI. Another path is possible. Read the report: ainowinstitute.org/2025-landscape
- 📣 Open MIC will attend this year's Internet Governance Forum in Oslo! @intgovforum.bsky.social is an annual event established by United Nations mandate that brings together governments, NGOs and companies in collaboration to solve pressing issues related to internet governance.
- 🗓️ This year is IGF's 20th anniversary, and will be taking place June 23-27. If you plan to attend, please reach out to Open MIC to connect! media [at] openmic [dot] org
- Hidden in the "Big Beautiful Bill" is a 10-year moratorium on state and local laws regulating AI. @techpolicypress.bsky.social reports in their May tech policy roundup:
- "Optimizing for engagement" is tech-industry shorthand for increasing the time people spend scrolling, swiping or chatting with bots. It's bad enough with old-school social media, but harms are compounded with AI-powered friends, girlfriends, and therapists.
- “It’s just exploiting a vulnerability in human psychology,” says one AI researcher. www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...
- "This proxy season, over 98% of investors have voted in support of maintaining current corporate diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs." Proposals from right-wing think tank NCPPR have targeted DEI programs at 13 corporations so far. 13 times the proposals have been decisively voted down.
- While shareholder proposals rarely achieve a majority vote, they also rarely see such unified opposition. 98% is a very significant margin in the world of proxy voting.
- So far 13 companies have rejected anti-DEI proposals with near-unanimous votes: Disney, Costco, Visa, Apple, Deere, Boeing, Goldman Sachs, Levi's, AMEX, Coca-Cola, Berkshire Hathaway, Bristol Myers, and Gilead Sciences. More reported in @asyousow.bsky.social's latest newsletter: loom.ly/7CSBabg
