HikVision
002415
2
exclusion reasons
2 themes
This page is part of our public exclusion list — a transparency tool that shows which companies we screen out and why. It is not investment advice, and it is not an accusation. But it is subject to change as our understanding of the facts evolves.
Hikvision is listed on the U.S. Treasury OFAC Non-SDN list under the CMIC-EO13959 program (Chinese Military-Industrial Complex), effective August 2, 2021. The company's surveillance equipment has been deployed in occupied territories. AFSC Investigate flags Hikvision for its role in Israel/Palestine occupations.
Hikvision is a partly state-owned Chinese manufacturer of video surveillance hardware and AIoT solutions, including network cameras, video recorders, access control systems, and facial recognition technology. Its products are integral to surveillance infrastructure deployed by governments and corporations globally. The company has been placed on the U.S. Department of Commerce Entity List and is prohibited from receiving U.S. federal contracts due to national security risks and its alleged role in human rights violations. The UK Biometrics and Surveillance Camera Commissioner has publicly challenged government ministers to clarify procurement positions, citing Hikvision cameras and facial recognition technology as being implicated in systematic human rights abuses against Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang. The company has, for over eight months, failed to answer formal questions from the UK Commissioner regarding the extent of its involvement. In June 2025, the Government of Canada ordered Hikvision Canada Inc. to cease all operations and wind up due to national security concerns. Hikvision has provided no substantive public commitments, transition plans, or independent human rights due diligence to mitigate these documented risks.
Related Issues
Surveillance Capitalism
Surveillance capitalism is extraction without consent — behavioral data harvested from people whose agreement was buried in terms they couldn't negotiate and can't revoke. We exclude companies whose revenue depends on this, and hold a high bar for any tech company where surveillance is a meaningful input. Until users can control, audit, and delete their data, this stays a core exclusion.
Palestine & Occupied Territories
We exclude companies that profit from Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories — settlement construction, military technology, surveillance infrastructure, discriminatory resource arrangements. The ICJ ruled this occupation unlawful in 2024. We don't wait for political resolution to stop funding what international law has condemned.
Research Sources
1 organization
Related Exclusions
Wondering what we do invest in?
The Naughty List
A digest of changes to our exclusion list — new additions, removals, and the evidence behind them. We review the list continuously as new evidence surfaces.
Companies appear on our exclusion list based on our investment judgment — not because they've done anything illegal. This is a difference of values and opinion, not an accusation of wrongdoing. Exclusion does not constitute a recommendation against investing in any company, and absence from the list does not constitute a recommendation to invest.
This information is provided for educational and transparency purposes only and should not be relied upon as investment advice. Data is drawn from independent watchdogs, NGOs, government registries, and Ethical Capital's ongoing research — see Research Sources for the full list.
Ethical Capital LLC is a state-registered investment adviser in Utah (CRD #316032). Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training.