US federal appeals court dismisses lawsuit accusing Apple, Microsoft, Tesla, Dell, and Alphabet of using child labor in Congo cobalt mining.
A US federal appeals court has dismissed a lawsuit accusing Apple, Microsoft, Tesla, Dell Technologies, and Alphabet (Google's parent company) of using child labor in cobalt mining in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The plaintiffs, consisting of 16 former miners and representatives of child miners, claimed that the tech companies bought cobalt from international suppliers whose subsidiaries exploit and perpetuate informal mining in Congo, resulting in child labor. However, the court ruled that the tech companies did not have anything more than an “ordinary buyer-seller transaction” with suppliers in the DRC, absolving them of liability.
March 06, 2024
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