Digital Inclusion Benchmark
13 March 2023
This third iteration of the Digital Inclusion Benchmark measures and ranks 200 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.
This year we also assessed companies on 12 high-level societal expectations that all companies – digital or otherwise – should meet in order to play their part in ensuring that we leave no one behind. These include topics such as whether companies are paying workers a living wage, or paying fair taxes.
From laptops, to online news platforms, to the WIFI connection that powers them, digital technology has become indispensable for everyday life. Digital technologies should be available to everyone. If left unaddressed, the growing gap between the under-connected and hyper-digitalised will widen, inflaming existing inequalities.
Five key findings
Our 2023 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.
Social transformation critical to achieving digital transformation
The WBA core social indicators have been integrated into this year's Digital Inclusion Benchmark. Good social performance is essential for achieving digital transformation. The top three companies on the benchmark are also the top three in social transformation. In this sector that is largely unregulated, high-level commitments to human rights, decent work and acting ethically are often all there is to hold companies accountable. A number of challenges for the tech sector–child digital rights, ethical Artificial Intelligence (AI) and data privacy–are at core human rights issues. Encouraging companies to commit to human rights and assess their digital risks could have a significant impact on ameliorating some of the tech industries biggest problems.
Slight improvement in overall performance but most companies still have far to go
Of the 150 companies that were included in the last year's benchmark, the average company score in digital inclusion went up by 6.8% from 33 to 36 (out of 100). Only 27 companies out of 200 assessed have a passing score of 50 or above on the benchmark illustrating the huge progress needed in digital transformation by the remaining 173.
Global events affect company performance
A number of companies had Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities related to COVID-19 in the previous benchmark (e.g., providing internet access or laptops to underprivileged students so they could educate remotely). Many discontinued these initiatives in 2021, resulting in lower scores. Out of the 38 companies identified with having such initiatives in the last benchmark, two dozen discontinued them (63%) even though they were often aimed at vulnerable groups. Another example is the world spending more time online during COVID-19 with tech companies doing extremely well financially. However, the downturn in the global economy is now affecting digital companies reflected by many announcing significant employee layoffs.
Mind the data gaps
While some digital companies are extremely transparent in their reporting, many are not. Some companies suggest that they are providing a Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) disclosure but the response does not meet the requirement. Others appear to greenwash their emissions disclosures by listing the lower market-based figure and not their actual location-based emissions although guidelines call for both to be disclosed. Many companies use vague text to describe their commitment to cybersecurity, AI ethics, child online safety and data privacy. Fortunately, there is a group of companies leading in the transparency of their reporting and going beyond simple compliance; through their disclosures these leading companies also push back on companies who claim the information is confidential.
Stakeholders can influence company behaviour
WBA Allies such as investors, civil society, think tanks, NGOs, international inter-governmental organisations and others have been instrumental in supporting the benchmark. Artificial intelligence (AI) is the focus of the Collective Impact Coalition (CIC) for Digital Inclusion. Investors in the Digital CIC have been engaging with companies to encourage them to make a commitment to ethical AI. Coinciding with this collaborative engagement, there has been notable progress. Among the 100 digital companies in the first benchmark, the number of companies with publicly available AI principles went up by only 1 between the first and second benchmark (from 14 to 15 companies); it has now increased by 14 since the digital CIC was formed at the start of 2022. Among all 200 digital companies, 44 now have publicly available ethical AI principles.
See how the companies performed
View rankingFurther Reading
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2023 Digital Inclusion Benchmark Insights Report
The report gives in depth insights into the Digital Inclusion Benchmark findings for this third iteration. Digital inclusion covers 16 indicators in four measurement areas: enhancing universal access to digital technologies; improving all levels of digital skills; fostering trustworthy use; and innovating openly, inclusively and ethically (Table 1.1).2 These indicators map to one or several of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) agreed by all 193 United Nations (UN) members in 2015.
Download insights report
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Data set
The third iteration of the Digital Inclusion Benchmark was published in March 2023. It measures 200 of the world’s most influential tech companies. These companies were assessed using the Methodology for the Benchmark, which includes 16 indicators. This year was the first year to include core social indicators. The data set contains information on the scores of each of these companies. Scores for each company are publicly available at the indicator level for all stakeholders. Individual company results are presented in company scorecards.
Download data set
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Press release
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The 200 most influential digital companies
Locations
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Title: Zoom
Place: San Jose, CA, USA
Description: -
Title: ZTE
Place: Shenzhen, China
Description: -
Title: Spark
Place: Auckland, New Zealand
Description: -
Title: Spotify
Place: Stockholm, Sweden
Description: -
Title: stc
Place: Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Description: -
Title: Stripe
Place: San Francisco, CA, USA
Description: -
Title: Sudatel
Place: Khartoum, Sudan
Description: -
Title: Swisscom
Place: Ittigen, Switzerland
Description: -
Title: Tata Communications
Place: Mumbai, India
Description: -
Title: TCL
Place: Huizhou,China
Description: -
Title: TE
Place: Schaffhausen, Switzerland
Description: -
Title: TEL
Place: Tokyo, Japan
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: Toshiba TEC
Place: Tokyo, Japan
Description: -
Title: Transsion
Place: Shenzhen, China
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: United Internet
Place: Mountabar, Germany
Description: -
Title: Veon
Place: Amsterdam, Netherlands
Description: -
Title: Verizon
Place: New York, NY, USA
Description: -
Title: Viettel
Place: Hanoi, Vietnam
Description: -
Title: VMWare
Place: Palo Alto, CA, USA
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: NXP
Place: Eindhoven, Netherlands
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: PalTel
Place: Nablus, Palestine
Description: -
Title: Panasonic
Place: Kadoma, Japan
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: Rostelecom
Place: Moscow, Russia
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 Telecom
Place: Seoul, Republic of Korea
Description: -
Title: SK Hynix
Place: Icheon, Republic of Korea
Description: -
Title: Skyworks
Place: Irvine, CA, USA
Description: -
Title: Snap
Place: Santa Monica, CA, USA
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: JD.com
Place: Beijing, China
Description: -
Title: Jio
Place: Mumbai, India
Description: -
Title: JOYY
Place: Singapore, Singapore
Description: -
Title: Jumia
Place: Lagos, Nigeria
Description: -
Title: Juniper Networks
Place: Sunnyvale, CA,USA
Description: -
Title: KDDI
Place: Tokyo, Japan
Description: -
Title: KEYENCE
Place: Osaka, Japan
Description: -
Title: KPN
Place: Rotterdam, Netherlands
Description: -
Title: KT
Place: Seongnam, Republic of Korea
Description: -
Title: Kyocera
Place: Kyoto, Japan
Description: -
Title: Lam Research
Place: Fremont, CA, USA
Description: -
Title: Largan Precision
Place: Taichung, Taiwan
Description: -
Title: Lenovo
Place: Hong Kong
Description: -
Title: LG Electronics
Place: Seoul, Republic of Korea
Description: -
Title: Liberty Global
Place: London, United Kingdom
Description: -
Title: Liquid Telecom
Place: London, United Kingdom
Description: -
Title: Logitech
Place: Lausanne, Switzerland
Description: -
Title: Lumen
Place: Monroe, LA, USA
Description: -
Title: Lyft
Place: San Francisco, CA, USA
Description: -
Title: MediaTek
Place: Hsinchu, Taiwan
Description: -
Title: MegaFon
Place: Moscow, Russia
Description: -
Title: Meituan
Place: Beijing, China
Description: -
Title: Mercado Libre
Place: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Description: -
Title: Meta
Place: Menlo Park, CA, USA
Description: -
Title: Microchip
Place: Chandler, AR, USA
Description: -
Title: Micron
Place: Boise, ID, USA
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: Murata
Place: Kyoto, Japan
Description: -
Title: Naspers
Place: Cape Town, South Africa
Description: -
Title: NAVER
Place: Seongnam, Korea
Description: -
Title: NEC
Place: Tokyo, Japan
Description: -
Title: Nepal Telecom
Place: Kathmandu, Nepal
Description: -
Title: NetApp
Place: San Jose, CA, USA
Description: -
Title: NetEase
Place: Hangzhou, 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: Cogent
Place: Washington, D.C., USA
Description: -
Title: Cognizant
Place: Teaneck, NJ, USA
Description: -
Title: Comcast
Place: Philadelphia, PA, USA
Description: -
Title: Corning
Place: Corning, NY, 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: DiDi
Place: Beijing, China
Description: -
Title: Digicel
Place: Kingston, Jamaica
Description: -
Title: Digital Realty Trust
Place: San Francisco, CA, USA
Description: -
Title: Etisalat
Place: Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
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: Ethio Telecom
Place: Addis Ababba , Ethiopia
Description: -
Title: Eutelsat
Place: Paris, France
Description: -
Title: Far EasTone
Place: Taipei, Taiwan
Description: -
Title: Foxconn
Place: Taipei, Taiwan
Description: -
Title: GlobalFoundries
Place: Malta, NY, USA
Description: -
Title: Globe
Place: Taguig, Philippines
Description: -
Title: GoTo
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: HPE
Place: Spring, TX, 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: Infineon
Place: Frankfurt, Germany
Description: -
Title: Infosys
Place: Bengaluru, India
Description: -
Title: Inmarsat
Place: London, United Kingdom
Description: -
Title: Intel
Place: Santa Clara, CA, USA
Description: -
Title: Iridium
Place: McLean, VA, USA
Description: -
Title: América Móvil
Place: Mexico City, Mexico
Description: -
Title: American Tower
Place: Boston, MA, USA
Description: -
Title: Amphenol
Place: Wallingford, CT, USA
Description: -
Title: Analog Devices
Place: Wilmington, MA, USA
Description: -
Title: Ant
Place: Hangzhou, China
Description: -
Title: Apple
Place: Cupertino, CA, USA
Description: -
Title: Applied Materials
Place: Santa Clara, CA, USA
Description: -
Title: ASML
Place: Veldhoven, Netherlands
Description: -
Title: ASUS
Place: Taipei, Taiwan
Description: -
Title: AT&T
Place: Dallas, TX, USA
Description: -
Title: ATH
Place: Suva, Fiji
Description: -
Title: Axiata
Place: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Description: -
Title: Baidu
Place: Beijing, China
Description: -
Title: BBK Electronics
Place: Shenzhen, China
Description: -
Title: BCE
Place: Quebec, Canada
Description: -
Title: Bezeq
Place: Tel Aviv, Israel
Description: -
Title: Bharti Airtel
Place: New Delhi, India
Description: -
Title: Block
Place: San Francisco, CA, USA
Description: -
Title: BOE
Place: Beijing, China
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: Canon
Place: Tokyo, Japan
Description: -
Title: Capgemini
Place: Paris, France
Description: -
Title: China Mobile
Place: Beijing, China
Description: -
Title: China Satcom
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: Acer
Place: Taipei, Taiwan
Description: -
Title: Activision Blizzard
Place: Santa Monica, CA, USA
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: Luxemburg, Luxemburg
Description: -
Title: Amazon
Place: Seattle, WA, USA
Description: -
Title: AMD
Place: Santa Clara, CA, USA
Description:
Previous findings
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2021 Digital Inclusion Benchmark
The World Benchmarking Alliance’s second iteration of the Digital Inclusion Benchmark assessed 150 of the world’s most influential technology companies.
See 2021 findings