Twilio

Twilio cut ties with similar platforms after the events in Charlottesville, Virginia, in the summer of 2017, and CEO Jeff Lawson encouraged other tech companies to do the same (1). The company received a score of 65 on the 2025 Corporate Equality Index (CEI) from the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), a political stakeholder group. The company recruits employees based on sexual identity issues. The company discriminates against vendors that do not promote divisive sex and gender policies, indicating it prioritizes sexual issues over merit (2)(3). 

Twilio likely uses Benevity as its charitable giving platform. Benevity vets charities according to the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Hate List, which includes mainstream libertarian, conservative, family, and religious advocacy organizations (1)(2)(3).

Twilio‘s HRC 2025 CEI rating indicates the company forces employees to attend multiple, controversial trainings on gender identity, sexual orientation, transgender issues, and divisive racial ideology. The company provides a specific benefits guide with a comprehensive explanation of transgender services funded by the company (1)(2). In September 2022 America First Legal filed a letter with the EEOC requesting a civil rights investigation into the company over discriminatory practices in firing (3)(4). The company protects its employees against viewpoint discrimination (5).

After a round of layoffs in 2022, Twilio claimed that it decided its layoffs from an “antiracist lens” (1). The company has opposed election security laws (2). The company has signed onto several Human Rights Campaign (HRC) coalitions opposing Trump-era gender policies (3)(4). Twilio has corporately opposed Trump-era immigration policy (5). Twilio’s CEO Jeff Lawson is a signatory to CEOs For Gun Safety (6). The company is a member of the “Don’t Ban Equality” business coalition, which advocates against any abortion restrictions because they are “bad for business” (7). Its Co-Founder, Chairman & CEO, Jeff Lawson, denounced various states’ legislative efforts to protect election integrity and security (8). The company’s former CEO, Jeff Lawson, signed the CEO Action for Diversity & Inclusion pledge, which includes a commitment to promote DEI through bias education training in the workplace (9)(10). The company scored a 75 out of 100 on the 2023-2024 Corporate Equality Index (CEI) from the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), a political stakeholder group (11)(12).

Twilio provides a benefits package for employees that covers travel/lodging costs for an abortion and transgender medical procedures for covered employees and dependents, including children (1)(2)(3). Its HRC 2025 CEI rating indicates the company covers transgender related costs for its employees and their children, including paid short-term leave, puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, chest surgeries, genital surgeries, medical visits and lab monitoring, travel and lodging. By allowing a political stakeholder group to dictate operations, the company increases health care costs and risks dividing employees, alienating customers and harming shareholders (4)(5). The company was a Premier 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 (6)(7)(8)(9)(10). Twilio is a sponsor of Out in Tech, an LGBTQ-focused nonprofit that advances DEI-style inclusion initiatives that aim to increase LGBTQ+ representation in the technology industry through recruiting, workforce development and networking initiatives. The organization partners with corporations to advance LGBTQ+ inclusion initiatives and integrate LGBTQ+ representation goals into talent development and employee engagement strategies (11)(12)(13)(14). The company also funds LGBTQ advocacy groups (15)(16). The company is a member of the MCCA, indicating its focus on recruiting, retaining, and promoting employees based on race (17)(18). Twilio is a Legacy Member of Out Leadership, a global network of LGBT+ business leaders from major companies that seeks to advance LGBTQ+ representation in corporate leadership and integrate LGBTQ+ priorities into workplace strategies. The first LGBTQ+ B-Corporation, Out Leadership accomplishes this through convening leadership summits, directing talent initiatives, and providing advisory solutions that emphasize the positive impact of LGBT+ inclusion for business (19)(20)(21)(22). Otherwise, there are no publicly known cases of the company using corporate funds to advance ideological causes, organizations, or policies (23).

Twilio does not operate a PAC at this time and has not lobbied for ideological purposes (1)(2)(3).