Harnessing the power of tech to connect for good.
BT Group touches the lives of nearly every person in the UK in some way – and thousands more around the world. That’s why it’s important that we make the most of the opportunities that new technologies bring. That could be supporting healthcare, AI, security or the shift to a low carbon economy.
Successful adoption of new tech depends on public trust in both the technology and the organisations developing and deploying it.
We aim for our tech to empower people and improve their lives.
Guided by our responsible tech principles, we’ve committed to consistently develop, buy, use and sell tech in a way that benefits people and minimises harms.
Applying responsible tech principles across the value chain
Our responsible tech principles help us think carefully about how to benefit people and minimise harms – every time we develop, use, buy and sell tech.
For Good
We design and deliver tech to empower people and improve their lives.
Accountable
We are accountable for our actions and take care to avoid, and protect against, tech misuse.
Fair
We work hard to ensure everyone is treated fairly and with respect.
Open
We listen, collaborate and are transparent about our actions.
We follow the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. These principles form the basis of our Human Rights Policy Commitment and is part of our risk management framework.
Our updated Being trusted: our code is our mandatory training for all colleagues and spells out our commitments on responsible tech and human rights.
And as part of our commitment to identify and remedy harms, we encourage anyone with concerns about human rights in our operations to contact our Speak Up helpline.
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BT Group human rights: Our policy commitment (pdf - 91 KB) - 01/08/2024
Our Responsible Tech Steering Group oversees how we implement our tech principles. This year it continued looking into our emerging risks and strategic growth areas. It invited external experts to help define our approach to topics like children’s rights, evolving high risk markets and customers, and new products and innovation.
The Responsible Business Committee – a BT Group plc Board committee – oversees progress on our human rights programme. Day-to-day, our human rights team works on the integration of the UN Guiding Principles in our business, including training and supporting the teams which implement our policy in our business units and regions. Our Group Corporate Affairs Director (a member of our Executive Committee) makes decisions on any human rights matter which can’t be resolved at an operational level.
We recognise situations can change. That’s why we periodically engage with internal and external stakeholders and conduct regular human rights due diligence and impact assessments to identify and assess emerging and enduring human rights risks. Based on these, we make changes to our processes and operations to mitigate our impact. We track the measures we put in place, from product development through to the point of sale, and beyond
For example, in 2023 we concluded a group-wide child rights impact assessment and two country-specific human rights impact assessments. We are acting on the findings and tracking our impact.
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Develop new tech
We apply our principles right from the start when we design new tech and we work to systematically build human rights due diligence into product design processes.
Our data ethics team and responsible tech steering group lead our thinking as we work to systematically build ethical decision-making into product design processes.
This year we:
- completed a human rights impact assessment of WI-FI controls to help us identify, understand and assess the risks of the product
- conducted user research to understand how our responsible tech principles could build trust and differentiate us
- published our approach to children’s digital rights
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Buy tech
We strive to only buy products and services from responsible companies – suppliers are required to meet our standards, and we monitor risks and compliance through assessments and audits.
Our procurement company, BT Sourced, has responsibility and sustainability criteria set into its processes. They give our buyers clarity on supplier risks and opportunities.
This year we:
- reviewed human rights risks in our supply chain, to better understand these risks and identify any gaps in our policies and processes
- launched a ‘worker’s voice’ pilot in five supplier factories, to understand the experience of people working in our supply chain
- carried on doing due diligence on our direct tier 1 manufacturing supply chain
See our Modern Slavery Statement for our responsible sourcing approach, supplier assessments, audit findings, and how we’re tackling modern slavery and conflict minerals.
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Use tech
We want to make sure our products and services are used for good. We focus on protecting privacy and free expression and helping to prevent online harms.
We have a due diligence process to identify where we use higher risk technology in BT Group. A cross-functional team assesses and acts on identified risks.
This year we published an AI standard for colleagues, to ensure our development, purchasing, use and sale of AI is consistent with the responsible tech principles, thereby helping to reduce risk at every stage of the AI life cycle.
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Sell tech
We sell to customers around the world.
Through our sales due diligence process, we work to make sure that our customers use our products and services in a way that benefits people and minimises harms.
We look at what we’re selling, who the customer is, and whether our product is likely to directly or indirectly support high-risk activities. Based on what we find, we may decide to conduct a more detailed human rights impact assessment, sometimes with external support.
This year we:
- further enhanced sales due diligence in our Business unit, by adding checks for negative media coverage. This helps us assess any potential human rights risks through the life of a customer’s contract
- conducted a human rights impact assessment in a high-risk country, which we’ll use to inform business strategy.
Protecting privacy and freedom of expression
In a digital world built on data, questions of privacy and freedom of expression become ever more complex. We’re all leaving data trails every minute of the day through our interactions online, use of social media, where we travel with our mobile, the surveilled streets that we walk and drive down, even the routes that we take when we’re meandering around the supermarket aisles.
Fighting modern slavery
Modern slavery is one of the scourges of our age. We go to extensive lengths to make sure we don’t work with suppliers that engage in this abhorrent behaviour. And we delve deep into the different layers of our supply chain in our efforts to uncover any unsavoury practices that might be feeding into our products, services, or operations.
Child rights in the digital environment
As a company serving families and those caring for children across the UK, we understand that children’s lives are increasingly playing out in the digital world.
While many child rights issues are also human rights issues affecting everyone, children merit dedicated attention because they are still developing, and they need support to protect their rights and encourage their empowerment. That is why we continually review our impact on children’s rights and safety in the digital environment.
Responsible AI
At BT Group, our ambition is to be the most trusted connector of people, devices, and machines. We are clear on the role we want to play in harnessing AI for a brighter future for everyone.
Combining human intelligence and artificial intelligence, we want to use the power of AI in a safe and ethical manner to unlock value for our customers and colleagues in alignment with our purpose to ‘connect for good'.
