The digital lever: How to shake up shareholder activism with new tools
In 1992, I spent two weeks in Russian custody in Murmansk. The coast guard had fired cannons at our bow when we tried to locate sunken nuclear waste. Back then, in the Russian Arctic, our greatest assets were our conviction and our ability to mobilise people on the streets. Our tools were megaphones, banners and boundless energy – and yes, sometimes a Greenpeace ship.
Today, more than 30 years later, as a progressive tech entrepreneur and CEO of nowtec solutions, I see a new generation of tools that are fundamentally changing the playing field of activism. Tools that give us opportunities we could only dream of back then. And I’m not talking about grandiose AI visions, but concrete, pragmatic tools that each of us can use to build pressure where it has the most impact: right at the heart of corporations.
The new era of shareholder activism: more than just voting rights
Shareholder activism is no longer the exclusive domain of billion-dollar hedge funds. A recent report by Harvard Law School shows that the front lines are broadening. Activists are no longer just targeting the boardroom, but are specifically addressing a broad range of stakeholders – from institutional investors and analysts to the company’s own employees. The idea behind this is simple and ingenious: real change happens when pressure comes from all sides.
I have experienced this myself. When we founded Campax in 2017 – now Switzerland’s largest citizens’ movement with almost 700,000 active members – this was precisely our strategy: not just to address the decision-makers, but to mobilise the people around them. Employees, customers, investors, the public. And today we have tools that take this strategy to a whole new level.
This is exactly where tools like Phantombuster come into play. Think of Phantombuster not as software, but as a digital toolbox for the modern activist. It is the digital lever that opens doors to decision-makers and opinion leaders in a company that would otherwise remain closed.
Your digital crowbar: how it works in practice
Forget anonymous mass emails. The new form of activism is personal, direct and data-driven. I remember in 2011, with a budget of 300 Swiss francs and a targeted social media campaign, we got a large outdoor company to withdraw its support for a controversial political campaign within a few hours. Even I was surprised by the speed and intensity of the reactions. Today, we can work even more precisely and in a more targeted manner.
Let’s take a look at how you can set up a campaign with Phantombuster’s “Phantoms”. Let’s assume we want to persuade a large energy company to phase out fossil fuels.
1. Draw a map of the company: Who are the key people?
In the past, we would have laboriously pored over organisational charts and searched for contacts through roundabout routes. Today, we use Phantombuster’s “LinkedIn Company Employees Export”. With this tool, we extract a list of hundreds or even thousands of employees from the target company. But not just any employees – we can specifically search for engineers in the sustainability department, middle managers or young talents who might be receptive to our message.
This is not science fiction. It is available today, right now. And it works because LinkedIn is a public platform where people want to showcase their professional identity.
2. Forging the coalition from within: direct and personal approach
Now comes the crucial step, and this is where modern activism differs fundamentally from the old way. Instead of an impersonal petition that ends up in the spam folder, we use “LinkedIn Auto Connect” and “AI LinkedIn Message Writer”. We can send personalised contact requests to hundreds of selected employees. AI helps us formulate messages in such a way that they don’t sound like spam, but start a real conversation.
I could write:
“Hello Sarah, I see you work as an engineer in the renewable energy sector at [company]. As someone who cares about a sustainable future, I would be interested to hear your perspective on the company’s current energy strategy.”
This is how we build a coalition from within. We create awareness and debate directly in the corridors and internal chat channels of the corporation. I’ve seen this time and again at Campax: the most effective campaigns are those where the pressure comes not only from outside, but also from within.
3. Reinforce the message: create visibility
With tools such as the “LinkedIn Message Sender”, we can provide our new contacts with further information, invite them to webinars or point them to critical reports. The “LinkedIn Auto Commenter” can help us to be present under the posts of the company or its executives and to place our critical questions. We force them to show their colours – not only to the public, but also to their own people.
In 2018, in response to the visit of controversial US President Trump to the WEF in Davos, we organised a petition, a 60-metre banner on a rock face and demonstrations. Today, I would also address hundreds of WEF participants and their employees directly – in a personalised, targeted and measurable way.
The power of direct communication
What we are doing here is democratising activism. We bypass the traditional gatekeepers – the PR departments and glossy brochures – and speak directly to the people who make up the company. We give employees a voice and show them that they are not alone in their concerns.
The Harvard report talks about a trend towards “withhold” campaigns, in which shareholders are called upon to withdraw their confidence in management. Imagine how much more powerful such a call becomes when it comes not only from outside, but is shared and supported by a network of hundreds of employees within the company itself.
I always say, “Doing nothing is almost always worse than doing something wrong.” This guiding principle has accompanied me throughout my entire career. Because we can, we must. And today, we can do more than ever before.
The elephant in the room: data protection and ethics
Of course, we must use these tools responsibly. As someone who founded nowtec solutions to empower NGOs with sovereign, data protection-compliant technology, I know that technology is only as good as the values it carries.
Strict data protection laws apply in the EU and Switzerland. Even publicly accessible LinkedIn data is personal data and subject to the GDPR and the revised Swiss Data Protection Act. This means you need a legal basis for processing it. This can be “legitimate interest” – but that requires careful consideration of your goals and the rights of those affected.
My clear recommendation: before using automated tools in large-scale campaigns, be sure to check with a data protection lawyer what is legal in your country. Transparency is essential. Be honest about your intentions. Respect “no”. And only use publicly available data.
It’s not about harassing people, but about forcing honest dialogue and creating transparency. But the days when corporations could hide behind their walls are over.
Start with the goal
In all my years of campaigning, I have always worked according to one principle: start with the goal and then choose the means and methods. If your goal is to persuade a company to act more sustainably, then choose the tools that will most effectively achieve that goal.
Megaphones and banners still have their place. But the modern fight for change is also fought with data, APIs and intelligent automation. It is time we embraced these tools.
Campaigning has always been a team sport. Today, we have the technology to organise this community faster, more precisely and more effectively than ever before. We just need to use it – responsibly, transparently and with a clear goal in mind.
Because, as I said before, just because we can, doesn’t mean we shouldn’t.
Sources:
[1] Katz, D. A., Tetelbaum, E., & Braswell, L. (2025, October 16). Shareholder Activism: Ten Trends for 2026. The Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance. https://corpgov.law.harvard.edu/2025/10/16/shareholder-activism-ten-trends-for-2026/
[2] Phantombuster. https://phantombuster.com/phantombuster
Andreas Freimüller is CEO and founder of nowtec solutions AG, member of the executive board at Kampagnenforum and co-founder of Leadnow GmbH. He was co-founder and president of Campax, Switzerland’s largest citizens’ movement, and has over 30 years of experience at the interface of society, technology and strategic communication.
This blog post is not sponsored and contains no commercial interests or advertising. All opinions are personal and independent.