Ant

Ant supports digital inclusivity for women through its A-Idol Initiative. The programme empowers vulnerable populations, especially women in poor areas, through training in artificial intelligence (AI) and aims to reduce poverty. Ant demonstrates good practice in making its services accessible to users with disabilities. The company provides special apps for users with visual limitations. It also cooperates with users with disabilities to design products, and it works with local governments to promote community education on cognitive impairment.

Through its Blue Vest programme, Ant supports basic digital skills development for elderly people, such as using smartphone functions, how to order taxis and scan QR codes. The company demonstrates good practice by making participation metrics available for the programme. In addition, through its A-Idol Initiative, the company teaches intermediate digital skills to women in poor areas.

The company has an information management security certificate and discloses data breaches. It also considers data privacy a key topic in its materiality assessment.

Ant demonstrates support for open innovation by participating in standards organisations, providing a dedicated portal for the company’s open source projects and having a high-level commitment in support of open standards. The company also supports women-led micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises through its programme Together Digital. Additionally, Ant shows high-level support for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by preparing its report using the SDG framework as a reference. The company also shows leading practice by disclosing information on its carbon emissions by scope and its innovative products to reduce environmental impacts.

There is an opportunity for Ant to show how it supports universal and affordable access to digital technologies for vulnerable groups. The company should also demonstrate how it distributes the wealth it creates among its stakeholders.

The company can consider providing programmes to contribute to the development of technical digital skills and school connectivity.

The company could demonstrate how it assigns oversight of and accountability for cybersecurity. It could also describe how it monitors, rectifies and reports on security incidents, and how it mitigates digital risks for children.

There is an opportunity for Ant to enhance support for the tech start-up ecosystem. Further, the company could demonstrate support for inclusive and ethical innovation by reporting the number of women it employs in tech roles and the steps it takes to consider ethics in research and development (R&D).

No company policies or commitments related to respect for human rights were found in the public domain. Also, no evidence was found that the company discloses a process to identify, assess and take action on salient human rights risks associated with its own operations and with its business relationships. Moreover, the company does not provide any evidence that it engages with stakeholders whose human rights could be impacted by its operations. However, Ant does have a grievance mechanism accessible to both workers and external stakeholders to raise human rights concerns and complaints.

Ant has a public commitment towards gender equality and women’s empowerment. However, no further company policies or commitments relating to providing and promoting decent work were found in the public domain.

Ant includes anti-bribery and anti-corruption clauses in contracts with its business relationships. It also has a grievance mechanism for stakeholders to raise concerns and complaints on the topic. However, no company policy was found in the public domain to evidence that the company explicitly prohibits bribery and corruption. Further, no relevant information was found in relation to the company’s approach to tax or to lobbying and political engagement.