

2021 Digital Inclusion Benchmark
December 2021

This second iteration of the Digital Inclusion Benchmark measures and ranks 150 of the world’s most influential technology companies on their responsibility to advance a more inclusive digital society. More specifically, the benchmark measures what companies are doing to:
- enhance universal access to digital technologies
- improve all levels of digital skills
- foster trustworthy use by mitigating risks and harms
- innovate openly, inclusively, and ethically.
From laptops, to online news platforms, to the WIFI connection that powers them, digital technology has become indispensible for everyday life. The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the urgency of digital inclusion. If left unaddressed, the growing gap between the under-connected and hyper-digitalised will widen, inflaming existing inequalities.

Five key findings
Our 2021 iteration shows that the majority of tech companies still aren’t taking their responsibility to ensure that people are able to use technology – and in a way that benefits them – seriously. A handful is leading the way with robust child safety commitments or ethical principles regarding artificial intelligence. However most of the world’s most powerful and influential aren’t displaying the maturity that the world expects of them to ensure that they help, rather than hinder our progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals.
Most companies are lagging behind on digital inclusion; progress is too slow
Some tech companies demonstrate a strong commitment to digital inclusion. Spain's Telefonica is the leading company with a score of 90 out of 100 for their efforts in increasing access to digital technologies, teaching digital skills, making the internet a safer and more trustworthy place and innovating diversely and ethically. Around two dozen more companies show good performance. However the vast majority are failing in their responsibility, with scores of less than 50 out of 100. Whilst there is moderate improvement in comparable metrics from last year's benchmark, progress is too slow to keep up with the growing number of divides and risks in our digital world.

Enthusiastic about AI benefits, the industry is failing to consider the risks
Whilst many digital companies spent pages citing the benefits and potentials of artificial intelligence (AI), few seemed concerned about the risks. Just 20 out of 150 commit to publicly available principles for ethical AI. This number is chilling given the growing evidence of the human rights implications of AI in areas such as facial recognition and algorithmic placement of incendiary information. Without ethical AI principles, digital companies are driving a future where people will have less agency, face potential job loss and experience inadvertent bias.
Questionable impact of ‘technology for good’ initiatives
Companies are proud of their initiatives, which include providing free connectivity for schools, or discounted services to underserved communities. Unfortunately many of these initiatives are one-off projects – especially those introduced during the COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, only 12 out of the 150 companies assessed published an impact assessment for one or more of their initiatives. This number suggests that companies aren’t serious about their ‘technology for good’ efforts. Impact assessments can mitigate the risk of impact washing and provide a roadmap for companies to support digital inclusion.
We need more women in tech
The lack of women engaged in research and development is a global problem as it affects the incorporation of gender perspectives in digital products. Consequently, the number of women engaged in technical roles is an important indicator to track. More companies are realising this; 18% more companies disclosed this information compared to last year’s iteration, with most of this increase coming from companies headquartered in the Republic of Korea and Japan. However this still only amounts to one-third of companies. On average, women make up just 23% of the technical workforce in the 150 digital companies assessed, highlighting the need for more women in tech roles.
The industry needs to pay attention to its human rights risks and impacts
From online hate speech to the exploitation of children in mining minerals for smartphones, tech companies can have a devastating impact on human rights. It is therefore crucial that tech companies demonstrate their due diligence on their human rights risks and impacts. Unfortunately only 15 out of 150 companies disclose that they have the basic processes in place to identify, assess, and integrate human rights risks and impacts in their business practices. IT and software service companies lag behind all others in the sector, whilst hardware companies are slightly ahead of the curve.

See how the companies performed
View rankingFurther reading
The 150 most influential digital companies
Locations
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Title: Spark
Place: Auckland, New Zealand
Description: -
Title: Spotify
Place: Stockholm, Sweden
Description: -
Title: STC
Place: Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Description: -
Title: Swisscom
Place: Ittigen, Switzerland
Description: -
Title: Tata Communications
Place: Mumbai, India
Description: -
Title: Tele2
Place: Stockholm, Sweden
Description: -
Title: Telecom Egypt
Place: Cairo, Egypt
Description: -
Title: Telecom Italia
Place: Rome, Italy
Description: -
Title: Telefonica
Place: Madrid, Spain
Description: -
Title: Telenor
Place: Fornebu, Norway
Description: -
Title: Telia
Place: Stockholm, Sweden
Description: -
Title: Telkom
Place: Johannesburg, South Africa
Description: -
Title: Telkom Indonesia
Place: Bandung, Indonesia
Description: -
Title: Telstra
Place: Melbourne, VIC, Australia
Description: -
Title: Tencent
Place: Shenzhen, China
Description: -
Title: Texas Instruments
Place: Dallas, TX, USA
Description: -
Title: TSMC
Place: Hsinchu, Taiwan
Description: -
Title: Türk Telekom
Place: Ankara, Turkey
Description: -
Title: Twilio
Place: San Francisco, CA, USA
Description: -
Title: Twitter
Place: San Francisco, CA, USA
Description: -
Title: Uber
Place: San Francisco, CA, USA
Description: -
Title: VEON
Place: Amsterdam, Netherlands
Description: -
Title: Verizon
Place: New York, NY, USA
Description: -
Title: Viettel
Place: Hanoi, Vietnam
Description: -
Title: Vodafone
Place: Newbury, United Kingdom
Description: -
Title: Western Digital
Place: San Jose, CA, USA
Description: -
Title: Xiaomi
Place: Beijing, China
Description: -
Title: Yandex
Place: Moscow, Russia
Description: -
Title: Yunji
Place: Hangzhou, China
Description: -
Title: Zain
Place: Kuwait City, Kuwait
Description: -
Title: Zoom
Place: San Jose, CA, USA
Description: -
Title: ZTE
Place: Shenzhen, China
Description: -
Title: Netflix
Place: Los Gatos, CA, USA
Description: -
Title: Nintendo
Place: Kyoto, Japan
Description: -
Title: Nokia
Place: Helsinki, Finland
Description: -
Title: NTT
Place: Tokyo, Japan
Description: -
Title: NVIDIA
Place: Santa Clara, CA, USA
Description: -
Title: Ola
Place: Bangalore, India
Description: -
Title: Omantel
Place: Muscat, Oman
Description: -
Title: Ooredoo
Place: Doha, Qatar
Description: -
Title: Oracle
Place: Redwood Shores, CA, USA
Description: -
Title: Orange
Place: Paris, France
Description: -
Title: OTE
Place: Athens, Greece
Description: -
Title: Palantir
Place: Denver, CO, USA
Description: -
Title: Paypal
Place: San Jose, CA, USA
Description: -
Title: PCCW
Place: Hong Kong
Description: -
Title: Pinduoduo
Place: Shanghai, China
Description: -
Title: PLDT
Place: Makati, Philippines
Description: -
Title: Proximus
Place: Brussels, Belgium
Description: -
Title: Qualcomm
Place: San Diego, CA, USA
Description: -
Title: Rakuten
Place: Tokyo, Japan
Description: -
Title: Rogers
Place: Toronto, ON, Canada
Description: -
Title: Safaricom
Place: Nairobi, Kenya
Description: -
Title: Salesforce
Place: San Francisco, CA, USA
Description: -
Title: Samsung
Place: Seoul, Republic of Korea
Description: -
Title: SAP
Place: Waldorf, Germany
Description: -
Title: Seagate
Place: Dublin, Ireland
Description: -
Title: ServiceNow
Place: Santa Clara, CA , USA
Description: -
Title: SES
Place: Luxembourg
Description: -
Title: Sina
Place: Beijing, China
Description: -
Title: Singtel
Place: Singapore
Description: -
Title: SK hynix
Place: Incheon, Republic of Korea
Description: -
Title: SK Telecom
Place: Seoul, Republic of Korea
Description: -
Title: SoftBank
Place: Tokyo, Japan
Description: -
Title: Sonatel
Place: Dakar, Senegal
Description: -
Title: SONY
Place: Tokyo, Japan
Description: -
Title: SpaceX
Place: Hawthorne, CA, USA
Description: -
Title: GoJek
Place: Jakarta, Indonesia
Description: -
Title: Grab
Place: Singapore, Singapore
Description: -
Title: GTT
Place: Mclean, VA, USA
Description: -
Title: HCL
Place: Noida, India
Description: -
Title: HP
Place: Palo Alto, CA, USA
Description: -
Title: Huawei
Place: Shenzhen, China
Description: -
Title: IBM
Place: Armonk, NY, USA
Description: -
Title: iFlytek
Place: Anhui, China
Description: -
Title: Iliad
Place: Paris, France
Description: -
Title: Infosys
Place: Bengaluru, India
Description: -
Title: Inmarsat
Place: London, United Kingdom
Description: -
Title: Intel
Place: Santa Clara, CA, USA
Description: -
Title: JD,com
Place: Beijing, China
Description: -
Title: Jio
Place: Mumbai, India
Description: -
Title: Jumia
Place: Lagos, Nigeria
Description: -
Title: KDDI
Place: Tokyo, Japan
Description: -
Title: KPN
Place: Rotterdam, Netherlands
Description: -
Title: KT
Place: Seongnam, Republic of Korea
Description: -
Title: Lenovo
Place: Hong Kong
Description: -
Title: LG
Place: Seoul, Republic of Korea
Description: -
Title: Liberty Global
Place: London, United Kingdom
Description: -
Title: Logitech
Place: Lausanne, Switzerland
Description: -
Title: Lumen
Place: Monroe, LA, USA
Description: -
Title: MegaFon
Place: Moscow, Russia
Description: -
Title: Meituan
Place: Beijing, China
Description: -
Title: Mercado Libre
Place: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Description: -
Title: Microsoft
Place: Redmond, WA, USA
Description: -
Title: Millicom
Place: Luxembourg
Description: -
Title: MTN
Place: Johannesburg, South Africa
Description: -
Title: MTS
Place: Moscow, Russia
Description: -
Title: Naspers
Place: Cape Town, South Africa
Description: -
Title: NAVER
Place: Seongnam, Korea
Description: -
Title: NEC
Place: Tokyo, Japan
Description: -
Title: NetEase
Place: Hangzhou, China
Description: -
Title: Asus
Place: Taipei, Taiwan
Description: -
Title: AT&T
Place: Dallas, TX, USA
Description: -
Title: Axiata
Place: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Description: -
Title: Baidu
Place: Beijing, China
Description: -
Title: BCE
Place: Québec , Canada
Description: -
Title: Bharti Airtel
Place: New Delhi, India
Description: -
Title: Booking Holdings
Place: Norwalk, CT, USA
Description: -
Title: Broadcom
Place: San Jose, CA, USA
Description: -
Title: BT
Place: London, United Kingdom
Description: -
Title: ByteDance
Place: Beijing, China
Description: -
Title: China Mobile
Place: Beijing, China
Description: -
Title: China Satellite
Place: Beijing, China
Description: -
Title: China Telecom
Place: Beijing, China
Description: -
Title: China Unicom
Place: Beijing, China
Description: -
Title: Chunghwa Telecom
Place: Taipei, Taiwan
Description: -
Title: Cisco
Place: San Jose, CA, USA
Description: -
Title: Citrix
Place: Fort Lauderdale, FL, USA
Description: -
Title: Cloudflare
Place: San Francisco, CA, USA
Description: -
Title: Cogent
Place: Washington, D,C,, USA
Description: -
Title: Comcast
Place: Philadelphia, PA, USA
Description: -
Title: Delivery Hero
Place: Berlin, Germany
Description: -
Title: Dell
Place: Round Rock, TX, USA
Description: -
Title: Deutsche Telekom
Place: Bonn, Germany
Description: -
Title: Digicel
Place: Kingston, Jamaica
Description: -
Title: Digital Realty Trust
Place: San Francisco, CA, USA
Description: -
Title: eBay
Place: San Jose, CA, USA
Description: -
Title: EchoStar
Place: Englewood, CO, USA
Description: -
Title: Elisa
Place: Helsinki, Finland
Description: -
Title: Equinix
Place: Redwood City, CA, USA
Description: -
Title: Ericsson
Place: Stockholm, Sweden
Description: -
Title: Etisalat
Place: Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Description: -
Title: Eutelsat
Place: Paris, France
Description: -
Title: Facebook
Place: Santa Clara, CA, USA
Description: -
Title: Foxconn
Place: Taipei, Taiwan
Description: -
Title: GlobalFoundries
Place: Malta, NY, USA
Description: -
Title: Globe
Place: Taguig, Philippines
Description: -
Title: Acer
Place: Taipei, Taiwan
Description: -
Title: Adobe
Place: San Jose, CA, USA
Description: -
Title: Airbnb
Place: San Francisco, CA, USA
Description: -
Title: AIS
Place: Bangkok, Thailand
Description: -
Title: Akamai
Place: Boston, MA, USA
Description: -
Title: Alibaba
Place: Hangzhou, China
Description: -
Title: Alphabet
Place: Mountain View, CA, USA
Description: -
Title: Altice
Place: Woerden, Netherlands
Description: -
Title: Amazon
Place: Seattle, WA, USA
Description: -
Title: AMD
Place: Santa Clara, CA, USA
Description: -
Title: América Móvil
Place: Mexico City, Mexico
Description: -
Title: Ant
Place: Hangzhou, China
Description: -
Title: Apple
Place: Cupertino, CA, USA
Description:
Previous findings
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2020 Digital Inclusion Benchmark
The the World Benchmarking Alliance’s first Digital Inclusion Benchmark ranks 100 of the world’s most influential technology companies.
See 2020 findings