Center for Business and Human Rights

In an op-ed, Professor Michael Posner writes about the need for more Black voices in the C-suite.

A new report from the NYU Stern Center for Business and Human Rights examines how social media companies have outsourced the critical function of content moderation to third-party vendors and offers recommendations for improvement.

"Late yesterday, President Trump escalated his war against the social media companies, Twitter in particular, issuing an executive order that seeks to limit their legal protections against liability for content posted on their sites. The irony of his action, as others have pointed out, is that the President himself has been one of the greatest beneficiaries of the current state of these social media platforms. This is a space where harmful content, including provably false disinformation, especially in the political realm, continues to flow freely."

"The coronavirus crisis reveals deep fissures that have long existed in our country. 'Economic Dignity,' a new book by Gene Sperling, a former national economic advisor to Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, provides important insight into some of those chasms related to economic inequality. In a vivid and timely way, Sperling’s book highlights the 'dissonance between our nation’s labeling of workers as ‘essential’ and ‘heroes’ and their limited wages, benefits and ability to organize.'”

"The coronavirus pandemic has brought one part of this economic model into the spotlight. 'Outsourcing,' a term that entered our lexicon in the early 1980s, describes the contracting of work from one company to another. Prominent business consultants like the late Peter Drucker have promoted this practice for decades, advising companies to “do what you do best and outsource the rest.” This is now the prevalent model in many industries."

"Seven years ago this week, the Rana Plaza factory complex in Bangladesh collapsed, killing more than 1,100 garment workers, mostly young women, and injuring 2,500 more. It was the largest industrial accident since 1984, when a gas leak at a factory in Bhopal, India, killed more than 3,500 people and exposed thousands more to toxic gas fumes. In the days following the Rana Plaza collapse in 2013, haunting images circulated online showing family members desperately sifting through the debris to locate their loved ones. These images caught the world’s attention and became a catalyst for unprecedented collective corporate action on factory safety."

"While the demise of journalism, especially at a local level, has escalated rapidly since the arrival of the digital age and the collapse of the print ad-based revenue model, the trend has accelerated dramatically in recent weeks, and now demands even more urgent attention."

"Echoing bipartisan calls from governors across the country, they urged the federal government to “take extraordinary steps” to lead in the production, coordination, and distribution of essential medical equipment for hospitals nationwide. While some business leaders have bristled at this kind of intense federal intervention, the size, scope, and urgency of the crisis underscore the need for President Trump to take bold measures, which, thus far, he has declined to do."

"The situation in New York illustrates the magnitude of the problem. According to Cuomo, the state needs 30,000 additional ventilators. Independently, the state has 4,000 in hand and has purchased another 7,000 on its own. Late yesterday, the federal government promised to deliver another 4,000 to New York."