Investors and activists are presenting Alphabet, Amazon, Facebook, and Twitter with a list of shareholder resolutions this week that call for investigations into alleged racial bias in Amazon's facial recognition software and other surveillance products, stronger safeguards against the spread of disinformation on Facebook, and the establishment of stronger worker and human rights protections at all four companies. Shareholder advocates and activist allies held a press conference on Monday detailing several resolutions being presented this week and next to the boards of Alphabet, Amazon, Facebook, and Twitter. While the advocates didn't expect the resolutions to pass -- some of the company boards have reportedly already advised shareholders to vote against them -- an Alphabet union representative said her union might organize walkouts if Alphabet doesn't adopt the worker protection and civil and human rights reforms being presented to its board next month.

A recent report by the Institute for the Future of Work, a British research and development group, said that algorithmic systems typically used in monitoring the performance of warehouse workers or delivery riders have pervaded more and more industries. Prospect has published some research into workers' attitude to these technologies. The majority of respondents in one survey said they were uncomfortable with the likes of camera monitoring or keystroke monitoring. Introducing AI-powered work tracking tools like facial recognition or keystroke monitoring brings a whole host of risks for companies. Many tools like keystroke monitoring or programs that snap screenshots of a person's desktop could be illegal under the EU's sweeping GDPR regulations.