Netflix

Netflix provides features such as subtitles and audio descriptions to increase the accessibility of its platform for people with disabilities. It also works with accessibility and disability advocacy groups.

Netflix partners with the education technology company 2U to deliver the HBCU Coding Boot Camp, which teaches individuals technical digital skills.

Netflix has a security incident response team. It also contributes to child online safety through parental controls on its platform.

Netflix demonstrates leading practice by publicly committing to open source innovation, partaking in open source projects and collaborating with universities on relevant research. For instance, it collaborates with the University of Bristol in the UK to calculate the carbon footprint of streaming and other everyday internet uses. It also reports its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions data and discloses the number of women it employs in tech roles.

Little evidence was found that the company supports initiatives to make digital technologies more available, affordable and accessible for underrepresented and vulnerable groups. The company can consider developing initiatives supporting digital opportunities for women and girls. It should also disclose how the economic value it generates is distributed among stakeholders, as well as the taxes it pays and its employment in its significant markets.

Netflix has an opportunity to further its support for digital skills development programmes and contribute to school connectivity.

The company can better disclose how it assigns senior-level oversight and accountability for cybersecurity, and how it monitors, remedies and reports security incidents. Netflix has made parental controls available for its service. However, as a digital company that provides video-streaming services, it should also make a high-level commitment to child online safety.

Little evidence was found regarding Netflix’s contribution to inclusive and ethical innovation. The company has an opportunity to support the tech start-up ecosystem through venture capital investments, accelerators and incubators. The company can also demonstrate how it applies ethical considerations in its research and development (R&D) activities.

Netflix has a grievance mechanism accessible to workers to raise human rights concerns and complaints, although it is not accessible to external stakeholders. However, no other company policies or commitments related to respect for human rights were found in the public domain. There is no public evidence of Netflix committing to respect the ILO core labour rights, nor does the company disclose a process to identify, assess and mitigate the salient human rights risks associated with its own operations and with its business relationships.

Netflix discloses information on its workforce diversity for two diversity indicators per employee category, namely gender and age group. No other company policies or commitments related to providing and promoting decent work were found in the public domain. Netflix does not disclose that it provides secure, safe and healthy workplaces, where workers are fairly remunerated and have a meaningful say in decision making.

Netflix does not include anti-bribery and anti-corruption clauses in its business relationship contracts, nor does it disclose how it identifies and addresses bribery and corruption in its operations. Furthermore, the company does not disclose any relevant information in relation to tax, such as a global tax strategy or its income tax payments in individual tax jurisdictions. Moreover, while Netflix discloses its approach to lobbying and political engagement, it does not state that it does not make political contributions. It also does not disclose its lobbying expenditures.