2025 Ranking Digital Rights Index shows stagnation from Big Tech on user rights despite seismic shifts within industry
RDR’s first evaluation of the world’s most powerful Big Tech platforms in three years reveals that companies are stagnating in fulfilling their key human rights commitments - and in some cases retreating from transparency entirely. The RDR Index evaluates, scores, and ranks companies on more than 300 aspects of company policies that affect people’s human rights, focusing on corporate governance, freedom of expression and information, and privacy.
With X (formerly Twitter) falling from its long-held top spot to seventh place, Microsoft took over as the company with the leading score in this assessment. However, Microsoft maintained the same overall score of 50% that it held in 2022. This is also the first year in which TikTok (and its parent company ByteDance) was included in the RDR assessment. Despite controversy surrounding U.S. government privacy concerns, the company scored near the middle of the pile.
“The collective power of supersized tech giants has never been greater,” said Dr. Jan Rydzak, Digital Transformation Lead at the World Benchmarking Alliance.
“The world’s largest digital platforms dominate entire industries and the infrastructure they rely on. Three of them control a staggering two-thirds of the online ad market – the deeply flawed engine that powers much of the internet today. Their algorithmic feeds have long influenced what we see, hear, and think. Now they are also awash in synthetic content that is causing social trust to unravel further.
The 2025 RDR Index: Big Tech Edition shows that power and accountability do not always go hand in hand, and human rights protections can easily crumble away. It serves as an anchor of truth in a time of widespread information chaos.”
For the third time in a row, no company scored above 50 percent. Most companies showed some improvement, particularly the Chinese tech giants, while two companies’ overall scores declined. Notably, U.S.-based Big Tech giants, representing five of the 10 companies with the highest market cap worldwide, have accrued enormous political power while skirting much-needed scrutiny. The incremental changes we’ve seen are insufficient given the urgent challenges to user rights online emanating from global conflict, worldwide democratic decline, and the unbridled growth of generative AI.
Other highlights include:
Driven by a regulatory crackdown on the tech sector by President Xi Jinping and pressure from international investors, Chinese companies are the most improved in key areas of transparency. These companies, including Alibaba, Baidu, and Tencent, made the greatest progress overall, driven mostly by strong improvements in key areas of governance. Still, how they translate into practice remained unclear, as all three companies kept their long-held silence on government demands for content and account restrictions as well as user data.
Tech companies are training AI models on billions of users' data, with no way for users to opt out. There have been overall improvements in algorithmic transparency since RDR first expanded its focus on it in the 2020 RDR Index. But the rapid proliferation of large language models calls for much more urgent action.
Companies are failing to protect users from key risks emanating from the surveillance advertising industry. Most companies are failing to conduct regular human rights impact assessments to identify how their processes for policy enforcement and targeted advertising policies impact users’ rights. Two have ceased to publish data on advertising policy enforcement altogether.
X’s precipitous transparency drop is the largest in RDR’s history. X (formerly Twitter) recorded the most dramatic drop in performance of any company in the history of the RDR Index. Last assessed by RDR just before its acquisition by Elon Musk, the company has retreated from transparency, particularly on governance. This reversal is exceptionally relevant as X’s U.S.-based competitors adopt some of its practices, such as the use by Meta of Community Notes.
TikTok performed comparably to other U.S.-based platforms, though its strong performance on freedom of expression was tempered by exceptionally poor governance disclosures. TikTok’s results contrast with recent rhetoric in the U.S. that led to the suspension of its operations and a possible forced divestiture. TikTok outperformed all other companies in the freedom of expression category, buoyed by strong transparency reporting.
Every company we rank has its own scorecard that offers a detailed look at highlights from the past year, key takeaways, recommendations, and changes. Full scorecards, as well as exec summary available available on the 2025 RDR Index Big Tech edition website.
Also new in the RDR Index: Big Tech Edition, our key findings, which will be released on Thursday, May 1. You’ll be able to take a deep dive into year-over-year progress and decline, emerging risks and trends, and areas for concerns within the sector. Key findings include:
“Three years on, U.S. tech giants are moving slow and not fixing things”: The trillion-dollar U.S. tech titans have dwarfed their competitors in size and power. But their quest for market dominance has paralyzed progress and widened the rift between commitment and practice.
“Why Chinese companies are racing to improve on transparency”: Chinese companies’ scores experienced a notable jump this year, driven by a regulatory crackdown and ESG concerns. But gaps remain in freedom of expression, and they still lag behind U.S. counterparts.
“Private platforms are falling short on transparent governance”: This year, RDR evaluated two private tech companies for the first time: X and and TikTok (ByteDance). While both performed comparably to others on privacy and freedom of expression, they lagged on governance transparency.
“User data fuels Big Tech's algorithms, and there's no opting out”: Big Tech giants are increasingly integrating AI into their algorithms to better target individual users of platforms and services. But improvements to algorithmic
ENDS
Samuel O'Flynn
Forster Communications
+447801849967 ext.
email us here
Legal Disclaimer:
EIN Presswire provides this news content "as is" without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the author above.

Polyaryletherketone (PAEK) Market to Reach USD 1.97 Billion by 2035, Growing at 6% CAGR
The Rise of Virtual Co-Working: A Game Changer for Remote Workers and Solopreneurs
Cardiac Crusade Launches 'Restart a Heart: Massachusetts' to Map 1,500+ AEDs and Increase the State’s Survival Rate
Kalendarium
Więcej ważnych informacji
Jedynka Newserii

Jedynka Newserii

Prawo

Przedsiębiorcy chcą uproszczenia kontroli celno-skarbowych i podatkowych. Wskazują na potrzebę dialogu z kontrolerami
Poprawa relacji z fiskusem i urzędnikami przeprowadzającymi kontrole to jeden z najczęściej podnoszonych postulatów przez przedsiębiorców. W ramach deregulacji prowadzonej przez rząd domagają się oni większej współpracy i otwartości na wyjaśnienia ze strony organów podatkowych, jasnej interpretacji przepisów, partnerskiego traktowania oraz skrócenia procesu przedawnienia. Te zmiany mogłyby poprawić atmosferę i klimat dyskusji między przedsiębiorcami a rządem.
Bankowość
Banki zainteresowane projektami gospodarki obiegu zamkniętego. Chętniej finansują takie inwestycje

Rynek zrównoważonego finansowania rośnie. Banki stawiają na rozwój oferty zielonych instrumentów, które przedsiębiorcy i inne instytucje mogą przeznaczyć na sfinansowanie inwestycji z różnych obszarów ESG. Są wśród nich zarówno zielone obligacje, jak i kredyty połączone z realizacją konkretnych celów klimatycznych. Jednym z obszarów, które chcą finansować firmy w ramach ESG, jest gospodarka obiegu zamkniętego, czyli zamykanie obiegu produktów w myśl zasady reduce, reuse i recycle (ogranicz, użyj ponownie, przetwórz).
Handel
E-papierosy i aromatyzowane saszetki nikotynowe mogą zniknąć z rynku. Ministerstwo Zdrowia chce całkowitego zakazu ich sprzedaży

W wykazie prac legislacyjnych pojawiła się nowa propozycja Ministerstwa Zdrowia, która przewiduje zakaz wprowadzania do obrotu papierosów elektronicznych jednorazowego użytku – zarówno tych z nikotyną, jak i bez niej, oraz zakaz stosowania aromatów w woreczkach nikotynowych. Projekt trafił do konsultacji społecznych. To już kolejna regulacja sektora tytoniowego w ostatnich miesiącach. Przedstawiciele biznesu podkreślają, że to chaos regulacyjny, który wpływa na brak poczucia pewności prawnej i decyzje inwestycyjne.
Partner serwisu
Szkolenia

Akademia Newserii
Akademia Newserii to projekt, w ramach którego najlepsi polscy dziennikarze biznesowi, giełdowi oraz lifestylowi, a także szkoleniowcy z wieloletnim doświadczeniem dzielą się swoją wiedzą nt. pracy z mediami.