Seven corporate giants are accused of undermining democracy

Some of the world's largest corporations are accused of undermining democracy, exacerbating global warming, funding far-right political groups and violating human rights.

Amazon, Blackstone, ExxonMobil, Glencore, Meta, Tesla and Vanguard were named A new report says these predominantly American corporate giants are using lobbyists to push a right-wing agenda that runs counter to a host of international conferences being held this year by the United Nations and other global organizations.

The report by the world's largest trade union federation, the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), calls them “corporations that undermine democracy”. The ITUC describes them as “corporations that profit financially from continuing to violate trade union and human rights, monopolising media and technology, exacerbating the climate emergency and privatising public services”.

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The ITUC said its report was part of a project to “identify market-leading companies that symbolise the negative impact of corporate power on democracy in the workplace, society and global institutions.”

“These companies have provided a platform or financed far-right and authoritarian political forces and are the subject of active complaints and campaigns by trade unions and social movements around the world.

The report claims that Amazon – the largest online retailer and listed as the fifth largest employer in the world a few years ago – is “notorious for its Union busting And low wages on several continents, monopoly in e-commerce, egregious carbon emissions through its AWS data centers, Tax evasion by companiesand lobbying at national and international level.”

“Amazon also has financed “The union accuses people of violating their efforts by far-right political groups to undermine women's rights and antitrust laws,” she claimed.

“The sheer scale of Amazon’s global lobbying undermines the democratic responsiveness of governments and institutions to the population. In Europe, Amazon is…”now declares that it will finance over 60 business associations, 15 think tanks and forums and 1 NGO.”

Tesla, Meta

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

“Tesla’s hostility toward unions earned the company a place on a list of The worst union busters of 2023”, the report states. There were serious safety violations in the company’s factories.

Meanwhile, the report accuses Meta – the owner of Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger and Threads – of using its algorithms to “support right-wing political interests… to spread hateful propaganda around the world.”

It said the social media giant, whose platforms reportedly have around four billion users, could “literally change humanity's perception of reality,” while claiming it was regularly abused by far-right groups to “incite hatred and violence against immigrants.”

Last year, she retaliated against the Canadian government for passing a law designed to support local journalism “by Preventing the spread of news on Facebook”, it said, pointing out that Facebook is also the global Lobbying against data protection laws.

ExxonMobilit said, “has spent millions to fund think tanks that deny climate science in order to distort public discourse on climate. Now it is lobbying against environmental regulatory frameworks.”

Glencorewas meanwhile accused of “funding global campaigns against indigenous communities and activists to secure its coal profits.”

Black Stonea private equity giant led by billionaire Stephen Schwarzman, a supporter of Donald Trump, was named in the IGB report for allegedly funding far-right political movements, investing in fossil fuel production projects and deforestation of the Amazon.

And vanguard The group was included because of its role in “financing anti-democratic companies.”

NOTE: The headline of this report was changed on September 24, 2024.

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