MASHINIi

BuzzFeed, Inc..

BZFD.US | N/A

BuzzFeed, Inc., a digital media company, distributes content across owned and operated, and third-party platforms in the United States and internationally. The company offers BuzzFeed that provides entertainment, pop culture, and the internet with articles, lists, quizzes, videos, and original serie...Show More

Ethical Profile

Mixed.

BuzzFeed's ethics present a mixed picture. The BuzzFeed News Union secured a contract for its 61 members, guaranteeing a $60K minimum salary and 2.5% annual increases. However, frequent layoffs are reported, and Glassdoor reviews show 3.4/5 for compensation; only 59% recommend the company. A 2019 data leak allegedly exposed personal data, including login credentials, for over 3,000 Ring users. Its privacy policy outlines user data rights, claims GDPR/CCPA compliance, and critical vulnerabilities are reportedly patched within 21-30 days. Critics also highlight governance issues like a dual-class share structure concentrating CEO voting power, and an investor allegedly criticized the board's experience.

Value Scores

Better Health for All0
-100100
Fair Money & Economic Opportunity0
-100100
Fair Pay & Worker Respect-30
-100100
Fair Trade & Ethical Sourcing0
-100100
Honest & Fair Business0
-100100
Kind to Animals0
-100100
No War, No Weapons0
-100100
Planet-Friendly Business0
-100100
Respect for Cultures & Communities20
-100100
Safe & Smart Tech-30
-100100
Zero Waste & Sustainable Products0
-100100

Better Health for All

0

BuzzFeed, Inc. does not offer health-related products or services that require accessibility considerations, making the 'price_accessibility' KPI not applicable. The company's Tasty platform announced the addition of nutritional information to its recipes on Tasty.co and the Tasty app.

1
While this is a step towards transparency regarding nutritional content, the articles do not provide details on the clarity or honesty of these disclosures, nor do they address health risks or benefits comprehensively, leading to a 'not applicable' score for 'risk_transparency'. Similarly, for 'nutrition_and_food_safety', the addition of nutritional information is noted, but there is no evidence to assess the overall nutritional quality or safety of the food products, resulting in a 'not applicable' score. For 'mental_health_initiatives', while one article discusses the positive impact of online communities on mental health generally, it does not provide specific evidence of BuzzFeed's initiatives, programs, or resource allocation for mental health support, leading to a 'not applicable' score. No other specific, concrete data points were found in the provided articles to assess BuzzFeed, Inc. against the remaining 'Better Health for All' KPIs.

Fair Money & Economic Opportunity

0

BuzzFeed, Inc. is a digital media company that distributes content and sells advertising. Its core business does not involve lending, deposit services, or other financial products for consumers.

1
Therefore, all KPIs related to financial services, such as underserved client share, pricing fairness, exploitative fee exposure, inclusion initiatives, data accessibility, fair lending compliance, wealth building outcomes, profit reinvestment in community finance, financial literacy initiatives, debt burden ratio, geographic inclusion, and product simplicity, are not applicable to the company's operations.
2
The provided articles focus on internal diversity, general financial advice, or unrelated topics, and do not contain evidence of BuzzFeed offering financial products or services to customers.

Fair Pay & Worker Respect

-30

BuzzFeed News Union, representing 61 employees, ratified a contract on May 6, 2022, covering 100% of BuzzFeed News employees.

1
The company has between 1001 and 5000 employees, meaning 1.22% to 6.09% of the total workforce is covered by collective bargaining agreements.
2
Employee reviews on Glassdoor indicate an overall rating of 3.6 out of 5 stars, and a compensation and benefits rating of 3.4 out of 5 stars, which decreased by 1% over the last 12 months.
3
Employee reviews frequently cite low pay, poor management, and frequent layoffs without warning as concerns.
4
The BuzzFeed News Union filed an unfair labor practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board due to proposed cuts to the bargaining unit after negotiations.
5
The company secured caps on health care cost increases for unionized employees.
6
No specific quantitative data is available for the safety incident rate, living wage coverage, CEO-median pay ratio, pay equity ratio, turnover rate, or insecure contract share for the company's operations.
7

Fair Trade & Ethical Sourcing

0

No evidence was found in the provided articles regarding BuzzFeed, Inc.'s fair trade certifications, supplier audit frequency, forced or child labor incidents within its own supply chain, traceability coverage, remediation speed for violations, ethical clauses in supplier contracts, materials risk index, or supplier diversity spend.

1
The articles primarily focus on internal diversity metrics, financial information, and BuzzFeed's reporting on ethical issues in other companies' supply chains, rather than its own ethical sourcing practices. Donations of advertising inventory to non-profit organizations are not considered procurement spend for supplier diversity.
2

Honest & Fair Business

0

No specific, quantifiable evidence was found across the provided articles to score any of the 'Honest & Fair Business' KPIs. While an investor criticized BuzzFeed's corporate governance, highlighting a 'lack of independence of some directors' and 'potential conflicts of interest,' this information does not provide a specific percentage of board members free from material conflicts of interest, which is required by the rubric for scoring.

1

Kind to Animals

0

BuzzFeed, Inc. is a digital media company. The provided articles, while some are published by BuzzFeed, discuss animal welfare topics such as cruelty-free beauty products, plant-based meat alternatives, animal cruelty in food supply chains, and animal testing policies by other entities or in a general industry context. There is no evidence that BuzzFeed, Inc. itself manufactures products, conducts animal testing, engages in animal agriculture, or has supply chains that would require animal welfare audits or certifications. Therefore, all KPIs related to animal welfare practices are not applicable to BuzzFeed's core business model.

No War, No Weapons

0

BuzzFeed, Inc. has no reported lobbying expenditures for 2023 and 2024, indicating no defense-related lobbying.

1
The company uses artificial intelligence for content development capabilities, which are civilian applications, with no evidence of military use or R&D, thus no AI military safeguards are needed.
2
Similarly, there is no evidence of a dual-use portfolio requiring screening.
3
The company states it complies with economic and trade sanctions, but no specific sales data is provided to assess sales to embargoed regimes.
4
No other relevant information was found regarding arms contracts, peacebuilding investment, divestment policies, or other defense-related activities.
5

Planet-Friendly Business

0

BuzzFeed, Inc. does not publicly disclose data for any of the planet-friendly business metrics.

1
The provided articles explicitly state that there is no publicly available data for Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions, SBTi-aligned targets, renewable energy use, water use, green building certifications, waste diversion, EU taxonomy-aligned capex, lifecycle impact analysis, recycled to virgin ratio, carbon offset quality, climate positive initiatives, supply chain climate transparency, supplier SBTi targets, biodiversity efforts, deforestation policy, environmental compliance violations, environmental impact assessments, net-zero target year, TCFD alignment, climate scenario analysis, stranded assets transparency, water from stressed basins, packaging CO2 reduction, climate justice initiatives, just transition programs, or climate adaptation financing.
2
Therefore, no KPIs can be scored.

Respect for Cultures & Communities

20

Over 90% of all US content and advertising employees completed cultural sensitivity training in 2017.

1
The company reported donating over $290,000 in advertising inventory to non-profit and philanthropy-focused organizations in 2023, but this is not specified as cultural heritage organizations.
2
No cultural appropriation incidents by BuzzFeed, Inc. were reported in the provided articles.

Safe & Smart Tech

-30

BuzzFeed promotes the responsible and ethical use of AI, expecting employees, contractors, and partners to align with company values, ensuring fairness, transparency, and integrity.

1
Editors double-check AI-generated content for accuracy and mission alignment.
2
For algorithmic transparency, employees are responsible for reviewing and verifying AI-generated content, but there is no evidence of explainability for AI-driven decisions to users.
3
Users can access, correct, and delete their data and opt-out of targeted advertising, but the policy does not detail the extent of control or ease of use.
4
The company states compliance with GDPR, CCPA, and other relevant privacy regulations, which is a standard industry approach.
5
Data is retained only as needed, with anonymization for research, and the privacy policy mentions retention and anonymization, indicating some data minimization efforts.
6

Zero Waste & Sustainable Products

0

No evidence available to assess BuzzFeed, Inc. on Zero Waste & Sustainable Products.

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AI-generated analysis based on publicly available data. Not financial advice. Ratings are expressions of opinion derived from automated models and may contain inaccuracies. See our Risk Disclosure for full details.