Adobe Inc
ADBE
Information Technology
3
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.
On March 9, 2026, a major class-action lawsuit (Buntjer v. Adobe, Inc.) was filed in the Northern District of California. The suit represents over 500 current and former female employees and alleges that Adobe systematically pays women less than men for substantially similar work. The filing also includes specific allegations of "grotesque" sexual harassment by management and retaliation (termination) against those who reported discrepancies via proper channels
FTC enforcement action (June 2024) — FTC sued Adobe and two executives for hiding early termination fees and deliberately obstructing subscription cancellations.
While Adobe markets its Firefly AI as being trained exclusively on "licensed and public domain" data to avoid copyright infringement, investigative reports (Bloomberg/Symbio6) revealed that Adobe utilized AI-generated images from competitors (e.g., Midjourney) to train its models without explicit disclosure. This "synthetic data" loop undermines Adobe's marketing claims of total provenance transparency and has led to internal ethical disputes among staff.
Related Exclusions
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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.