Deutsche Telekom AG — Ethics Grade C+

Deutsche Telekom AG receives an overall ethics grade of C+ (58/100) on CancelCo's corporate accountability database. Sector: Telecommunications. Market cap: Large Cap.

Category scores

• labor: 55
• privacy: 40
• consumer: 60
• environment: 75
• humanRights: 60

Documented incidents (3)

• Journalist Spying (high, 2008) — The company admitted to monitoring the telephone records of journalists and board members to identify the source of news leaks. This mass surveillance within Germany led to criminal investigations into top executives.
• Abuse of Market Dominance (medium, 2014) — The European Commission fined Deutsche Telekom and its subsidiary Slovak Telekom for margin squeezing. They intentionally set wholesale rates so high that competitors could not operate profitably without incurring losses.
• Union Busting in US (medium, 2015) — A US labor judge ruled that T-Mobile (majority-owned by DT) engaged in illegal labor practices by prohibiting workers from discussing wages and discouraging unionization through coercive policies.

Documented good deeds

• Renewable Powering — Achieved the goal of powering its entire global network with 100% renewable electricity purchased from certified sources.

Ethical alternatives

• AVM GmbH — German hardware company with high focus on security and transparent data practices.