Amazon, Meta, and Tesla are enemies of democracy

At least according to the International Trade Union Confederation

Amazon, Meta, and Tesla were named by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) as some of the worst corporate underminers of democracy.

The union body accused the companies of union busting, monopolizing media and technology, violating human rights, contributing to climate change, and fostering political movements that threaten democratic institutions.

The complete list of “corporate underminers of democracy for 2024” is Amazon, Blackstone Group, ExxonMobil, Glencore, Meta, Tesla and the Vanguard Group.

The ITUC noted that the Big Seven were “emblematic” of how large international corporations have begun using their influence to influence global affairs.

All of them violate trade unions and human rights, monopolize media and technology, exacerbate the climate catastrophe and try to privatize public services in a way that “protects and expands their profits by undermining democracy.”

These companies deploy complex lobbying operations to undermine popular will and disrupt existing or nascent global policies that could hold them accountable,” ITUC wrote.

The desire for greater corporate power, the Confederation added, invariably aligns corporate interests with anti-democratic political movements like the modern far right.

Right-wing politicians, ITUC noted, tend to lower taxes, undercut higher wages for workers, crack down on trade unions, and the like – all things sure to please the likes of corporations like Amazon, Tesla, and Meta as evidenced by plenty of prior reporting and investigation.

For Amazon, the ITUC criticized the company for becoming “notorious for its union-busting and low wages, monopoly in e-commerce, egregious carbon emissions through its AWS, corporate tax evasion and lobbying.”

Meta was accused of exploiting user data, undermining privacy laws, manipulating global information, and failing to regulate harmful content on its platforms. “Meta’s algorithms can alter humanity’s perceptions of reality,” ITUC said.

“Its revenue model exploits trillions of personalized data points to deliver highly effective advertising.”

Some have called the company “a foreign state, populated by people without sovereignty, ruled by a leader with absolute power.”

Tesla was condemned for poor labor practices, anti-union politics, unsafe working conditions, human rights violations, and environmental damage in its supply chain.

“The world’s most highly-valued automaker has quickly become known as one of its most belligerent employers. Tesla’s rapid market success has been outpaced only by the descent of its corporate leaders into anti-democratic, anti-union politics.”