HarperCollins - 1792 Exchange

Rating Overview

HarperCollins is High Risk.

HarperCollins is High Risk. The company yields to political activism in shaping corporate governance, potentially alienating consumers, dividing employees, and harming shareholders. HarperCollins embraces corporate initiatives that redirect its central focus from business goals to partisan policies and divisive issues. This approach fails to safeguard free exercise, free speech, and free enterprise.

Rating Criteria

Corporate Weaponization Risk Levels
Criteria	Risk Level
Cancellations	High Risk
Discriminatory Philanthropy	Lower Risk
Employment Protection	High Risk

Corporate Weaponization ⓘ

Corporate Governance and Public Policy Risk Levels
Criteria	Risk Level
Advocacy Bias	High Risk
Funding	Medium Risk
Political Actions	No Data

Corporate Governance and Public Policy ⓘ

Rating Criteria Detail

Criteria Risk Level Rationale

Corporate Weaponization

Criteria:

Has canceled 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:

High

Rationale:

HarperCollins decided not to publish a book it had contracted with former CNN anchor Chris Cuomo after he was fired from the network due to personal controversies (1). The company appeared to cancel a book contract with worship leader Sean Feucht, but there are disputes as to whether a contract had been agreed to at the time HarperCollins decided not to publish (2).

Criteria:

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

Risk Level:

Lower

Rationale:

HarperCollins does not appear to discriminate against charitable organizations based on views or beliefs (1).

Criteria:

Employment policies fail to protect against viewpoint or other discrimination and/or are ideological in nature.

Risk Level:

High

Rationale:

HarperCollins has promoted unconscious bias training in the workplace, though it is unclear to what degree the company has implemented such training itself (1). The company does not provide viewpoint protections for its employees (2)(3).

Corporate Governance and Public Policy

Criteria:

Uses corporate reputation to support causes, organizations, or policies hostile to freedom of expression.

Risk Level:

High

Rationale:

HarperCollins has published many books intended for kids, primarily from ages 4-8, that inscribe postmodern gender ideology (1). These books include True You, A Gender Journey, an “affirming” picture book that showcases “kids and their wide-ranging gender identities,” and Bye Bye, Binary, which is about an infant who “refuses to conform to gender identity” (2). The company has also shared its commitment to become carbon neutral by 2050 (3). The company supports DEI within its business practices, employing a DEI Officer (4).

Criteria:

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

Risk Level:

Medium

Rationale:

HarperCollins Children’s Books was a Bronze Tier corporate sponsor of the Trevor Project, an organization that advocates for controversial sex and gender ideology, including “gender transition” drugs and surgeries for minors, through legislation, litigation, advertising, and PR campaigns. The organization also hosts online chatrooms that allow adults to communicate with minors as young as 13 about sexually explicit topics. Adults in these chatrooms have encouraged minors to adopt transgender identities and withhold this information from their parents (1)(2)(3)(4)(5). Otherwise, there are no publicly known cases of HarperCollins using corporate funds to advance ideological causes, organizations, or policies (6)(7).