Etsy

New York
Retailing

Corprate Bias Ratings

Risk Level:

Rating - Danger
High Risk

Etsy, an e-commerce company focused on handmade/vintage items, permanently banned a user from its platform who discussed biological scientific opposition to modern-day gender theory. The company vets vendors according to LGBTQ policies and does not provide its employees with protections against viewpoint discrimination. Etsy does not discriminate against religious organizations in its charitable giving, though. The company covers the cost of "medically necessary transition-related care" for its employees and their children. For these reasons, Etsy receives a High Risk rating.

Criteria
Risk Level
Rationale
Corporate Weaponization
Criteria

Has denied service to customers, suppliers, or vendors due to their political views or religious beliefs OR corporately boycotts, divests, or sanctions regions, people groups, or industries.

Risk Level
Rationale

Etsy permanently de-platformed evolutionary biologist and writer Colin Wright from its platform without warning or opportunity for remediation (1). In a series of tweets with attached screenshots, Mr. Wright outlines the company’s actions against him for pushing back on postmodern gender theory (2). The company received a score of 100 on the Human Rights Campaign’s (HRC) Corporate Equality Index, indicating that the company has pledged to vet its suppliers for LGBTQ policies, among other requirements (3)(4).

Criteria

Charitable giving (including employee matching programs) policies or practices discriminate against charitable organizations based on views or religious beliefs.

Risk Level
Rationale

Etsy’s main charitable arm focuses on improving business environments for new business owners/entrepreneurs (1). Etsy also allows its vendors to raise money for other charities of their choice and does not discriminate against faith-based charities (2).

Criteria

Employment policies fail to protect against discrimination based on political affiliation/views and/or religion.

Risk Level
Rationale

Etsy does not provide viewpoint protections for its employees (1).

Corporate Governance and Public Policy
Criteria

Uses corporate reputation to support ideological causes and/or organizations hostile to freedom of expression.

Risk Level
Rationale

Etsy is part of the business coalition for the Equality Act (1).

Criteria

Uses corporate funds to advance ideological causes, organizations, or policies hostile to freedom of expression.

Risk Level
Rationale

Etsy has a perfect score on the HRC’s 2022 Corporate Equality Index. This score indicates the company covers the cost of “medically necessary transition-related care” for its employees and their children (1)(2). Etsy has also pledged $500,000 to the Black Lives Matter movement and related organizations (3)(4).

Criteria

Uses corporate political contributions for ideological, non-business purposes.

Risk Level
N/A
Rationale

Etsy does not operate a PAC at this time.

All links were last accessed and all information was updated on:
November 28, 2023

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