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In stakeholder engagement practices, companies often focus on the power that stakeholders have and their level of interest in the company's product or service. For example, investors and the board of directors often have high power and strong interest. On the other hand, users generally have high interest but relatively low power. Depending on users' demographics, nationality, and socio-economic status, their power might be even less, while their interest could be higher.
Companies often engage in “stakeholder mapping” exercises where they identify and locate stakeholders on a two-axis grid of power and interest. If we take an example of a social media company, in these stakeholder mapping axes, Iranian users frequently demonstrate high interest in the company's products and policies but have relatively little power to voice their concerns and change companies’ decisions.
In human rights impact assessment, our focus is on the rights holder rather than high-powered stakeholders like board members and executives. With this in mind, we have created the Rights Holder Engagement Guide: Building Trust with Iranian Users. It is designed to assist technology companies in guiding their stakeholder mapping and engagement strategies, specifically with respect to rights holders in Iran. Much of this guide about Iranian users can be applied to non-English speaking rights holders from the Majority World living in authoritarian countries.
flowchart LR
%% Colors %%
classDef yellow fill:#FFF72F,stroke:#FFF72F,color:#000
classDef white fill:#ffffff,stroke:#ffffff,color:#000
%% Power Imbalance %%
G3[Power Imbalance]:::yellow
%% Engagement %%
G3 --> 1(Use of VPNs and Circumvention Tools):::white
G3 --> 2(Limited Media and Lobbying Power):::white
G3 --> 3(Research Bias and lack of understanding about the context):::white
G3 --> 4(Compliance with US Sanctions):::white
G3 --> 5(Security Concerns):::white
G3 --> 6(Communication Barriers):::white
G3 --> 7(**Identity Verification**):::white
Communication Barriers: Iranian rights holders face obstacles in conveying their needs directly and indirectly. Common communication channels, such as emails and company surveys often used as a practice in User Experience research to help companies learn more about their users and their concerns, may not be effective due to language barriers and lack of on the ground, direct, and formal channels with the users.
Research Bias and lack of understanding about the context: User Experience research teams often concentrate on users from the developed world, predominantly focusing on US users. Consequently, the needs of users from Iran may be overlooked or be painted with the same brush as other users from the “Global South'' or “Majority World”. This will lead to a lack of understanding about the context and consequently lack of engagement with this user base.
Limited Media and Lobbying Power: Iranian users lack access to mainstream and powerful media and have minimal lobbying power, which further limits their influence on companies' products and decisions.
Security Concerns: Issues surrounding safety and security make it challenging for Iranian users and civil society groups to directly interact with companies. Digital rights groups in diaspora communities outside Iran often act as liaisons to communicate these users' needs, but their up-to-date understanding about the situation in Iran and influence may be limited due to the need for networking and connections through informal channels.
Compliance with US Sanctions: Companies may exclude Iranian users to comply with US sanctions. For example, OpenAI prohibits Iranians from accessing its Language Learning Model (LLM) tool, ChatGPT. Although Iranian users often find ways to circumvent these bans, companies may not feel obliged to engage with and serve users who access their products in an "illegal" manner. They may shrug and say we don’t formally provide our services for that user base so why should we engage with them.
Use of VPNs and Circumvention Tools: Due to internet restrictions by companies and the Iranian government, users often resort to VPNs and other circumvention tools, which may misrepresent their geo-location and IP addresses. This makes it difficult for companies to accurately understand their user base and associate specific user needs with being Iranian.
Identity Verification: Communication with companies often requires identity verification. However, it might not be safe for Iranian users to provide their identity through government-issued IDs, effectively excluding them from communicating their needs and raising their concerns with the companies.
However, Iranian users have a high interest in companies' products and policies due to several compelling reasons:
flowchart LR
%% Colors %%
classDef yellow fill:#FFF72F,stroke:#FFF72F,color:#000
classDef white fill:#ffffff,stroke:#ffffff,color:#000
%% Power Imbalance %%
G3[**Impacts of Company Decisions on Iranians’ Lives]**:::yellow
%% Engagement %%
G3 --> 1(**Lack of Safe Alternative Products**):::white
G3 --> 2(**Freedom of Expression and Access to Information**):::white
G3 --> 3(**Freedom of Assembly**):::white
G3 --> 4(**Fear of Government Surveillance**):::white