Google

This company received a score of 4.3/100 (retrieved 10-Oct-2020) in the Corporate Information Transparency Index (CITI), a system for evaluating supply chain practices in China, particularly in regards to environmental management and water pollution. Scores are calculated using government compliance data, online monitoring data, and third-party environmental audits, as well as trends in the environmental performance of factories in the company's supply chains.
Source: IPE (2020)

The Chinese government has facilitated the mass transfer of Uyghur and other ethnic minority citizens from the far west region of Xinjiang to factories across the country. Under conditions that strongly suggest forced labour, Uyghurs are working in factories that are in the supply chains of at least 83 well-known global brands in the technology, clothing and automotive sectors, including brands owned by this company. The Australian Strategic Policy Institute's 2020 report estimates (somewhat conservatively) that more than 80,000 Uyghurs were transferred out of Xinjiang to work in factories across China between 2017 and 2019, and some of them were sent directly from detention camps.
Source: ASPI (2020)

This company appears on Burma Campaign UK's 'Dirty List' of companies assisting the Burmese military to continue to commit human rights violations and environmental destruction. Google hosts applications created by the Burmese military. This includes one for Min Aung Hlaing, Commander in Chief of the Burmese military, whom United Nations investigators have said should be prosecuted for genocide. It also hosts applications for the Myawady military newspaper, the Ministry of Defence, and military-owned companies.
Source: Burma Campaign UK (2019)

Google has been fined in court over privacy breaches (often in relation to its Street View cars) in several countries including the USA, France, Germany, Italy and Spain. Google faces more lawsuits for violating privacy laws.
Source: Google (2015)

In 2018 Google was fined a record 4.3 billion euros by EU regulators for breaking antitrust laws. The European Commission says Google has abused its Android market dominance in three key areas. Google has been bundling its search engine and Chrome apps into the operating system. Google has also blocked phone makers from creating devices that run forked versions of Android, and it "made payments to certain large manufacturers and mobile network operators" to exclusively bundle the Google search app on handsets.
Source: The Verge (2018)

This company received a grade of D+ in the Greenpeace Guide to Greener Electronics (Oct 2017), which assesses companies from the electronics industry across three impact areas: energy use, resource consumption, and chemical elimination. Of the 17 companies ranked, this company came tenth.
Source: Greenpeace (2017)

In 2021 Google reached a deal with the US Department of Labour, requiring it to pay nearly $US2.6 million in back wages to thousands of workers over claims that the company's pay and hiring practices illegally disadvantaged women and Asians. Google has faced lawsuits before over claims it discriminates against women and people of colour.
Source: Business Insider (2021)

This company scores Ethical Consumer's worst rating for the likely use of tax avoidance strategies, and has at least two high risk subsidiaries in tax havens.
Source: Ethical Consumer (2018)

This company was one of four companies that agreed to pay a total of US$324m to settle a class action lawsuit accusing them of conspiring to hold down salaries in Silicon Valley by agreeing not to recruit or poach employees from each other. However in Aug 2014 a US court rejected this settlement on the basis that more than 60,000 top-level workers were affected, saying that the amount should be larger. The final amount is yet to be decided.This company was one of four companies that agreed to pay a total of US$324m to settle a class action lawsuit accusing them of conspiring to hold down salaries in Silicon Valley by agreeing not to recruit or poach employees from each other. However in Aug 2014 a US court rejected this settlement on the basis that more than 60,000 top-level workers were affected, saying that the amount should be larger. The settlement amount was changed to US$415m in 2015.
Source: news article (2015)

In 2019 the median pay for a worker at this company was US$258,708. The CEO was paid 1,085 times this amount. Exorbitant CEO pay is a major contributor to rising inequality. CEOs are getting more because of their power to set pay, not because they are increasing productivity or possess specific, high-demand skills. The economy would suffer no harm if CEOs were paid less (or taxed more). In contrast, the CEO-to-typical-worker compensation ratio was 20-to-1 in 1965 and 58-to-1 in 1989.
Source: AFL-CIO (2020)

This company received a score of 14.9/100 in the Newsweek Green Ranking 2017, which ranks the world's largest publicly traded companies on eight indicators covering energy, greenhouse gases, water, waste, fines and penalties, linking executive pay to sustainability targets, board-level committee oversight of environmental issues and third-party audits. Ranking methodology by Corporate Knights and HIP Investor.
Source: Newsweek (2017)

As You Sow's 2021 report, 'The 100 Most Overpaid CEOs', reveals the 100 most overpaid CEOs from USA's 500 largest public companies (as determined by the S&P 500 list). This company's CEO, Sundar Pichai came in at number 1 on the list, having been paid US$280,621,552 in 2020. According to the report, "Most CEOs have come to be grossly overpaid, and that overpayment is harmful to the companies, the shareholders, the customers, the other employees, the economy, and society as a whole."
Source: As You Sow (2021)