The 2025 RDR Index: Big Tech Edition
Seventh edition (first full evaluation since 2022): no company scored over 50%; TikTok debuted strongly while X showed RDR's largest-ever single-company decline after cutting its human rights team and transparency reporting.
Executive summary
AI-generatedThis summary was generated by AI from the original report to make it easier to scan and cite. It is not a substitute for the source — read the original above.
The seventh edition of Ranking Digital Rights' index, the first full evaluation since 2022, assessed 14 major digital platform companies across 43 services on corporate governance, freedom of expression, and privacy practices, covering services reaching more than 5.5 billion people worldwide. No company scored above 50 percent overall, though average scores rose slightly since the prior assessment. ByteDance was evaluated in full for the first time and ranked sixth overall, with TikTok placing second on freedom-of-expression indicators, while Alibaba, Baidu, and Tencent showed the strongest year-on-year gains.
X registered the largest single-company decline in the index's history, coinciding with its shift to private ownership and the elimination of its human rights team, while Meta ended its fact-checking program and YouTube removed gender identity from its hate-speech protections during the assessment period. Eleven companies disclosed no information on enforcement of advertising-content policies, and none exceeded 50 percent on targeted-advertising transparency for a third consecutive assessment. The report concludes that despite mounting risks, most companies are retreating from earlier transparency and human-rights commitments.
Think this summary is wrong? Contact us.