Require labels on publicly distributed AI deepfakes
Artificial intelligence
Owners remove an obstacle nothing else removes. Others must also act.
Why shareholder democracy is necessary
Platforms and AI companies can label synthetic media through their own product policies, and several already watermark or tag AI content, so corporate conduct carries much of this goal. Owners are already active on content governance at the relevant firms. The Investor Alliance for Human Rights filed 15 proposals at Alphabet, Amazon and Meta in 2023 on algorithmic transparency and board oversight of harmful content including disinformation. The Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility's digital rights program engages technology companies on misinformation, censorship and AI accountability, asking for due diligence processes and remedies for people harmed. A legal requirement is still needed to bind every distributor, and the courts are a documented obstacle no company controls: federal rulings in Kohls v. Bonta blocked California's election deepfake laws on First Amendment grounds in 2024 and 2025, and a federal labeling mandate would face the same constitutional test.
How this was scoredNecessary
Necessary. Owners remove an obstacle nothing else removes. Others must also act.
We have not yet written down the two answers behind this rating. Recording them on every item, so a reader can check the reasoning and not only the conclusion, is work in progress.
Every rating is the higher of two answers, one for what companies do and one for what they spend to stop the outcome, because the same vote reaches both. See the full method.
Sources
- Common Ground of the American People: Artificial Intelligence, Program for Public Consultation / Voice of the People, 2026 (study February 2024)
- Through a Series of Shareholder Proposals at Alphabet, Amazon and Meta, Investors Underscore Digital Rights Risks, Investor Alliance for Human Rights, 2023-01-31
- Digital Rights and AI Accountability, Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility, accessed 2026-08-28
- Kohls v. Bonta et al (litigation tracker), TechPolicy.Press, accessed 2026-08-28
What civil society organizations are helping owners on this
Coordinated a series of 15 shareholder proposals at Alphabet, Amazon and Meta in 2023 covering algorithmic transparency, board oversight of harmful content and human rights impact assessments of targeted advertising.
Runs a digital rights and AI accountability program that engages technology companies on misinformation, censorship and biased algorithms, asking for human rights due diligence and remedy mechanisms for victims.
Digital Rights and AI Accountability, Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility
Co-filed with Arjuna Capital and Eko a 2024 campaign of shareholder proposals at Microsoft, Alphabet and Meta asking for annual reports on misinformation and disinformation risks from generative AI products.
Led shareholder proposals at Microsoft, Meta and Alphabet asking for reports on the risks of misinformation and disinformation generated and spread through generative AI.
4 campaigns on record
Issue an annual report assessing the risks of misinformation and disinformation from the company's generative AI products and the steps taken to mitigate them.
With Open MIC, Eko
Result: 45.7 percent of independent shareholders in favor at the June 2024 meeting; 18 percent of all votes per Sustainalytics
Fifteen proposals asking for algorithmic transparency, stronger board oversight of harmful user content, human rights impact assessments of targeted advertising and transparency reporting on censored content.
With Mercy Investment Services, Trillium Asset Management, Northwest Coalition for Responsible Investment, As You Sow, Nathan Cummings Foundation
Result: not stated in source
Strengthen board oversight of harmful material posted on the company's platforms, including false and misleading content.
Result: Voted on at the May 31, 2023 annual meeting. The company's filing reports that none of the shareholder proposals on that ballot was approved.
we found no documented change
2023 Alphabet, Amazon and Meta Shareholder Resolutions, Investor Alliance for Human Rights, 2023
Report on the risks associated with misinformation and disinformation generated and disseminated through the company's generative AI and outline plans to address those risks.
With Open MIC, Eko, Azzad Asset Management, Meyer Memorial Trust, Marguerite Casey Foundation
Result: 21 percent support at the December 7, 2023 annual meeting
Proposal refiled for the December 2024 meeting, where it received 19 percent per Sustainalytics.
Related subjects on other maps
How this rating was made
Every item on every one of our maps is read against one question: how far does this depend on the people who own companies voting their values? We answer it twice, once for what companies do and once for what they spend to stop the outcome, and take whichever answer is higher, since the same vote reaches both. The score carries its reasoning and its sources so that a reader can check it rather than take it.
- Pivotal. Owners voting their values can deliver most of the outcome.
- Necessary. Owners remove an obstacle nothing else removes, and others must also act.
- Helpful. Owners voting their values help, and others carry most of it.
- Independent. This moves without owners. Other levers carry it.
The advocacy record on this page holds only what a source we opened says happened. Where we searched and found nothing, the page says so rather than leaving a silence. Where a campaign names a filer the source does not name, it says that too. Ratings are ours; the list of subjects is Common Ground of the American People's, and we link to their original.
How we score dependency, in full.