For more than two centuries, the First Amendment has provided Americans with protection from government censorship of speech and government-enforced orthodoxy of belief. Meanwhile, our economy has blossomed under the principles of free enterprise, providing access to financial services and participation in the marketplace of goods, services, and ideas.
Over time, technology has advanced to the point that our bustling public square is now digital, and online commerce is simultaneously global and local. While our Constitution’s protection from government interference remains strong, what protection is available from the private sector gatekeepers to ideological freedom and financial viability? In a free market economy, the answer is transparency and accountability.
Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) recently released its fifth-annual Viewpoint Diversity Score Business Index, providing the public with crucial information on corporate America’s respect for freedom. This year’s index expanded the field to 150 major companies and reorganized its methodology around 30 policy-focused indicators spanning the market, workplace, and public square. Insperity led the Index with a top overall score of 67%, and seven companies scored above 50%, showing that stronger protections for free speech and religious freedom are achievable across different sectors.
In the past year, major corporations made over 55 policy and practice changes in response to shareholders who cited ADF’s Index. Those improvements in a single year show that the Index is not merely measuring problems—it is helping companies solve them.
Corporate America appears to be learning in real time from cautionary tales like Bud Light and Target. Publicly imposing upon consumers any opinion on controversial issues comes with a price. Shareholders of publicly traded companies are taking notice and encouraging businesses to stick to business.
Respecting the diversity of opinion and beliefs of customers, employees, and shareholders is not only in keeping with the greatest of American principles but also key to a healthy bottom line. Insperity and the other leaders on this year’s Index prove that clear, enforceable protections for free speech and religious freedom are entirely compatible with running a successful business.
The redesigned Index scores publicly traded companies in finance, technology, and software services based on whether they use clear rules, protect free speech and religious exercise, apply their standards consistently, and avoid imposing contested beliefs on customers, employees, and charitable partners. Major corporations like Bank of America and Microsoft have taken important steps over the past year to prevent future viewpoint-based discrimination against customers and employees, while Mastercard, Texas Instruments, and Salesforce each responded to shareholder engagement by removing the Southern Poverty Law Center’s “hate list” as a screening tool from employee charitable-giving programs.
The overall improvements from major corporations are reflected in the individual company scores on the 2026 Index. Insperity’s top score was followed by East West Bancorp (60%), Cullen/Frost Bankers (54%), Bank of America (53%), Palantir Technologies (52%), Progressive Insurance (52%), and Euronet Worldwide (51%).
The Index’s market benchmarks found that vague terms of service remain the largest risk to customers and vendors. A total of 115 companies—77% of the Index—received zero credit because their policies let the company deny customers access to a core product or service based on subjective terms like “inappropriate,” “objectionable,” or simply the company’s “sole discretion.” Only 11 companies earned full marks. That includes East West Bancorp, which revised its online banking terms to remove vague restrictions on “bigoted” and “offensive” speech.
Seven companies—Bank of America, Dell Technologies, JPMorgan Chase, Meta, Microsoft, NCR Atleos, and Popular—disclosed strong protections for vendors against religious or ideological discrimination. But such protections remain rare: 77 companies received zero credit, failing to provide comparable safeguards for their business partners.
The Index continues to power ADF’s shareholder engagement coalition, which has secured commitments or clarifications this year from Bank of America, BlackRock, AT&T, Regions, Mastercard, NVIDIA, Meta, Wells Fargo, Salesforce, and Microsoft to remove religious exclusions, drop reliance on the now-indicted SPLC’s “hate list,” or adopt equal charitable criteria. Capital One confirmed it is no longer a sponsor of or participant in the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index, part of a broader decline in CEI participation that has included companies such as Meta, American Express, PNC Bank, Delta, Boeing, and Lockheed Martin.
Americans rely on private sector corporations every day for banking, insurance, and technology, which gives corporate America enormous influence over whether Americans can speak, have access to financial services, and conduct business according to their convictions. Free markets require free people. Free people require free speech and free access to the market. The success of this symbiotic circle has made our nation a beacon to the world. We must use our economic and political freedom wisely to maintain both. The Viewpoint Diversity Score Business Index is another American innovation and a useful tool to do so.
