At Amazon, facial recognition ban won just 2% of shareholder vote

FILE PHOTO: Staff chat at the front desk of the Amazon office in the Manhattan borough of New York, New York, U.S., May 1, 2019. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri - Copyright CARLO ALLEGRI(Reuters)

By Reuters

Published on 25/05/2019 - 00:34•Updated 26/04/2024 - 12:45

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(Reuters) - Amazon.com Inc shareholders overwhelmingly rejected a proposal that the company stop selling facial recognition technology to government agencies, a regulatory filing on Friday showed.

Some 2.4% of votes were in favour of the closely watched proposal, while the remaining votes were against it or in abstention. Amazon's sale of the technology to law enforcement in Oregon and Florida has put the company at the centre of a growing debate over facial recognition, with critics warning of false matches and arrests and proponents arguing it keeps the public safe. The tally excludes broker non-votes.