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.
Ad platforms give targeting tools that make it trivially easy to find vulnerable populations — people susceptible to financial scams, emotional manipulation, and predatory lending. The platform may not say "here's how to rip these people off." But it certainly says "here's how to find them," and that distinction is not a defense.
We screen across two policy categories.
- Products (§ 2.5). Companies whose core product is surveillance: consumer tracking, privacy erosion tools, for-profit prisons. The test is centrality to the business model — not proximity to tech.
- Conduct (§ 3.4). Data exploitation and systematic privacy violations as a pattern. Being in tech is not disqualifying. What matters is governance: real deletion, encryption, anonymization, external audit.
For ad tech, we require strong, demonstrable privacy controls. DuckDuckGo, Signal, and Proton are useful reference points — business models that structurally prevent surveillance rather than merely promising not to.
Eventually, we hope this screen won't have to exist. That would require GDPR-equivalent governance in the U.S., external audit with real teeth, genuine data portability, and deletion that means deletion. None of those conditions exist today.
Surveillance infrastructure built for commercial purposes does not stay commercial. U.S. federal agencies have purchased data broker records to circumvent warrant requirements. The architecture is the same; the buyer changes.
In the short term, these business models are profitable. In the long term, the dominant platforms are destroying the organic discovery and trust that made them valuable. That is a structural fragility, not just an ethical one.
— Sloane Ortel, Founder & CIO
See § 2.5 / § 3.8 of our screening policy for the full criteria.
What we exclude
- Surveillance hardware manufacturers (cameras, sensors, screening systems)
- Intelligence and forensic software (mobile extraction, facial recognition, predictive analytics)
- Surveillance infrastructure built for deployment by governments or corporations
- Surveillance capitalism: deploying behavioral surveillance against own users for commercial gain (§ 3.8)
- Data brokers packaging consumer profiles without meaningful consent (§ 3.8)
- Operating, financing, or materially supporting for-profit incarceration (§ 3.8)
The regulatory risk is real and growing
GDPR, CCPA, the EU AI Act, and accelerating FTC enforcement converge on one conclusion: the data extraction model has a limited runway. [Meta's 2023 GDPR fine was €1.2 billion](/exclusions/META). [DMA enforcement](https://digital-markets-act.ec.europa.eu/index_en) is ongoing. Companies whose revenue depends on frictionless access to personal data are accumulating regulatory liability the market has not priced in.
Facial recognition sits at the intersection of legal, reputational, and political risk. [San Francisco](https://www.sanfranciscopolice.org/your-sfpd/policies/19b-surveillance-technology-policies) and [Boston](https://www.boston.gov/sites/default/files/file/2021/02/Boston-City-Council-face-surveillance-ban.pdf) have enacted bans. Any company with significant government surveillance contracts faces a policy cliff — structurally identical to what coal faced in 2015.
This is not a tradeoff between ethics and returns. It is a screen that identifies underpriced regulatory risk.
Excluded Companies (46 total)
Showing 46 of 46 companies excluded under this screen.
| Ticker | Company | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| 002415 | HikVision | Israel/Palestine Conflict Complicity; Surveillance Technology |
| 2236 | Dahua Technology | Technology Concerns |
| ADBE | Adobe Inc | 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. |
| ADV | ADVANTAGE SOLUTIONS INC CLASS A | Technology Concerns |
| AMBA | Ambarella Inc | Semiconductor IP supplier to Hikvision and Dahua Technology, both placed on U.S. Commerce Department Entity List for enabling mass surveillance of Uyghur population in Xinjiang |
| AMZN | Amazon.com, Inc. | FTC $2.5B consumer protection enforcement (2025) — Amazon charged with systematically deceiving consumers through dark patterns, fake discounts, and unauthorized Prime enrollment. |
| APP | AppLovin Corporation | Technology Concerns |
| APPS | Digital Turbine Inc | Digital Turbine's software is pre-installed at the system level on mobile devices. Users cannot uninstall it without rooting their phones, and frequently report waking up to find new games or shopping apps installed on their devices overnight. Security resarchers note that "Installations and removals of apps by users are tracked and linked with PII, which only seem to be “masked” (i.e., hashed) discretionally." |
| BA | The Boeing Company | Lead DHS contractor for SBInet "virtual border wall" (2006–2011): deployed integrated surveillance towers, radar, and camera networks along US-Mexico border. Legacy systems remain operational. Boeing aircraft also used by ICE for deportation operations. |
| BHE | Benchmark Electronics Inc | AFSC notes that Benchmark Electronics has manufactured Mobile Video Surveillance Systems (MVSS) for Customs and Border Protection (CBP) through its subsidiary Tactical Micro. MSVV units consist of “day and night camera systems fitted on telescopic poles mounted on Border Patrol 4 x 4 vehicles.” |
| BRZE | Braze, Inc | Technology Concerns |
| CART | INSTACART (MAPLEBEAR INC) | Extensive monitoring of shopper activity |
| CDLX | Cardlytics | Surveillance Technology |
| CETX | CEMTREX INC | Cemtrex subsidiary Vicon Industries supplies video surveillance systems to federal prisons (Bureau of Prisons, $4.2M 2007–2018), CBP border facilities, ICE detention centers, and Texas Eagle Pass immigration jail ($1.1M May 2023 contract). AFSC Investigate documents under carceral/borders database. |
| CGNT | Cognyte | NBIM: Violation of human rights |
| CLBT | Cellebrite DI Ltd | Technology Concerns |
| COR | CENCORA INC | In August 2025, Cencora and its subsidiary The Lash Group agreed to a $40 million class-action settlement following a February 2024 cyberattack. The breach exfiltrated the data of over 1.43 million individuals, including Social Security Numbers, health diagnoses, and prescriptions. Plaintiffs alleged Cencora was negligent in its HIPAA duties and failed to notify victims in a timely manner (taking nearly three months to start notifications). |
| CRTO | Criteo SA | Surveillance capitalism (Zuboff): Criteo SA — behavioral retargeting using commerce transaction data; Privacy International GDPR complaint (Nov 2018) for building intricate consumer behavioral profiles shared with thousands of advertisers |
| DSP | Viant Technology | Technology Concerns |
| EFX | EQUIFAX INC | Equifax Financial Marketing Services segment systematically monetizes granular consumer financial behavior — credit scores, income, debt levels, spending patterns — for third-party targeting without meaningful consumer consent (confirmed in 2026 10-K). Represents core surveillance capitalism business model: extraction and sale of behavioral prediction products derived from personal financial data. |
| FICO | Fair Isaac Corp | Surveillance capitalism (Zuboff): Fair Isaac Corp — FICO scores are behavioral prediction products; licenses scoring algorithms that power behavioral risk assessment across all major credit bureaus and financial institutions; Scores segment = 59% of revenue |
| FLNT | FLUENT INC | Surveillance Technology |
| GOOGL | Google (Alphabet Inc.) | Surveillance capitalism (Zuboff): Alphabet — pioneered behavioral data extraction 2000-2001; Search, Maps, YouTube, Android as behavioral surveillance infrastructure; sells prediction products to advertisers at scale |
| LOGI | LOGITECH INTERNATIONAL SA | Major customer data breach confirmed; sensitive personal data exposed (PCWorld report) |
| MAX | MEDIAALPHA INC CLASS A | Technology Concerns |
| META | Meta Platforms, Inc. | The company has broken records around the world for data privacy fines. Ireland's Data Privacy Commission assessed a $1.2 billion fine for transferring European users' data to the United States, which is the largest GDPR fine yet. The Texas Attorney General won a $1.4 billion settlement against Meta for surreptitiously building a database of biometric facial data without user consent, in violation of the Texas Capture or Use of Biometric Identifier Act. The European Commission assessed an additional $200 million fine for Meta's ‘Consent or Pay' advertising model. Under this model, EU users of Facebook and Instagram had a choice between consenting to personal data combination for personalised advertising or paying a monthly subscription for an ad-free service. The Federal Trade Commission has also sought to ban Meta from collecting data on users under the age of 18 and block new product launches without a third party assessor's confirmation that META's privacy program has no gaps or weaknesses. |
| MGNI | Magnite Inc | Surveillance Technology |
| MSFT | Microsoft Corporation | Microsoft employees publicly protested ICE/CBP cloud computing and facial recognition contracts used in migrant detention; internal open letter signed by hundreds of employees condemning use of Azure for immigration enforcement |
| NVDA | NVIDIA Corporation | Nvidia and Intel partnered with China’s three biggest surveillance companies to add AI capabilities to camera systems used for video surveillance across China, including Xinjiang and Tibet, until sanctions were imposed. Similar systems were also used by ICE in the United States. |
| ORCL | Oracle Corp. | Oracle provides enterprise surveillance infrastructure including facial recognition, predictive policing software, and database systems used for mass surveillance. Major government contractor enabling dragnet data collection. |
| OSIS | OSI Systems Inc | OSI Systems provides security screening and surveillance systems deployed at U.S.-Mexico border and Israeli military checkpoints in occupied Palestinian territories (AFSC Investigate) |
| PINS | Surveillance capitalism (Zuboff): Pinterest — visual intent data sold as prediction products; 500M+ users' shopping and interest behavior monetized for advertiser targeting and behavioral modification | |
| PUBM | PUBMATIC INC CLASS A | Technology Concerns |
| QNST | QUINSTREET INC | Surveillance Technology |
| RAMP | LiveRamp Holdings Inc | Surveillance capitalism (Zuboff): LiveRamp/Acxiom — pure-play data broker; core business is packaging 2.5B+ consumer behavioral profiles for sale without individual consent |
| ROKU | Roku Inc | Surveillance Technology |
| SNAP | Snapchat | Surveillance capitalism (Zuboff): Snap Inc — persistent location tracking, demographic profiling of young users, AR/Lens behavioral data collection; Snap Audience Network enables behavioral ad targeting |
| T | AT&T INC | Corporate Governance |
| TBLA | Taboola.com Ltd | Technology Concerns |
| TRU | TransUnion | Surveillance capitalism (Zuboff): TransUnion — credit bureau with TruAudience marketing data division; acquired Neustar for $3.1B (Dec 2021) adding identity resolution and behavioral targeting to credit data |
| TTD | The Trade Desk Inc | Surveillance capitalism (Zuboff): The Trade Desk — programmatic advertising DSP; revenue model = trading behavioral futures derived from pervasive tracking of users across the open web |
| TTGT | TECHTARGET INC | Surveillance Technology |
| VZ | Verizon Communications Inc. | Other Exclusions |
| WPP | WPP PLC | Technology Concerns |
| Z | Zillow Group Inc | Technology Concerns |
| ZETA | Zeta Global Holdings Corp | Technology Concerns |