Alphabet is under new pressure as investors demand AI and cloud technology safeguards.
A group of Alphabet shareholders is pressuring the company to explain how it regulates and controls the use of its technology and cloud services by governments for surveillance after the tech giant rejected demands for more disclosure.
In a letter to Alphabet seen by Reuters, the group asked for a meeting with management after the Google owner opposed a shareholder proposal seeking a report on how it monitors related risks.
“Cloud-based services are a growing segment, and it is becoming more and more militarized,” said Marcela Pinilla, director of sustainable investments at Zevin Asset Management, which authored the letter signed by 42 organizations and 14 individuals that jointly manage $1.15 trillion in assets.
“We don’t see them having tight controls on interference in high-risk contexts. It’s very risky for them if they don’t have oversight of how their infrastructure is being used.”
Pinilla said the signers of the letter owned about $2.2 billion worth of Alphabet shares.
Alphabet did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the letter.
When shareholders were urged to vote against the proposal, it said it had “a strong, multi-layered framework for data privacy and security” and that existing disclosures “already provide meaningful transparency around government access to data.”
It said it kept “rigorous monitoring” of relevant risks and that a second report would be a “duplicative and ineffective use of our resources”.
The letter is part of broader pressure from investors on data privacy and artificial intelligence governance at companies including Microsoft, Amazon and Apple as cloud and AI services become more embedded in government and military operations.
Investors said they want to understand how Alphabet assesses and mitigates the risk of misuse of its technology and services and how it ensures that government contracts give it the right to intervene or cancel agreements if the risks increase.
A resolution demanding data on the company’s human rights due diligence garnered an estimated 11.9% of independent votes last year, but only 4.5% of the total votes, partly due to the voting power of insiders like founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin.
Widespread Surveillance Concerns:
The letter cites concerns about Google’s provision of services to US immigration authorities, its role in Project Nimbus – a $1.2 billion cloud computing contract with Israel – and its operations in Saudi Arabia.
The Pentagon’s AI chief, Cameron Stanley, confirmed to CNBC on Tuesday that the Defense Department will expand the use of Google’s Gemini AI model.
The investor letter said its concerns were heightened after Alphabet revised its AI principles in 2025 to remove “categorical language that prohibits certain weapons and surveillance applications,” increasing the importance of contractual safeguards and board-level oversight.
The proposal said misuse of its technology could expose Alphabet to litigation, regulatory action or hefty fines, including fines of up to 4% of revenue under Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation.
Against that backdrop, Lauren Compere, head of stewardship at asset manager Boston Common, who co-filed the proposal, said it was “really disappointing” that Alphabet had refused to engage with investors.
“We gave the company several opportunities to engage in one-on-one or small group talks, but they did not come to the negotiating table,” he said.
