ASUS

Gamers Nexus published a detailed investigation exposing ASUS's warranty and RMA practices, documenting cases where ASUS charged customers for repairs on products still under warranty, returned products with new damage, and provided poor communication throughout the RMA process. The investigation went viral, prompting ASUS to publicly apologize and pledge to overhaul its RMA processes.

In 2024, ASUS launched its first Living Wage Program in alignment with the Responsible Business Alliance (RBA) and the Anker Methodology, focusing on key assembly and labor-intensive suppliers. The program combines wage data collection, on-site visits, and worker interviews to help suppliers set improvement targets and ensure wages meet recognized human rights standards.

Multiple investigations by China Labor Watch (2016, 2023) found labor abuses in factories supplying ASUS, including excessive overtime, forced labor, low wages, inadequate training, workers going three months without a day off, and use of student interns. ASUS was also identified by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute as potentially benefiting from Uyghur forced labor in its supply chain.

The European Commission fined ASUS $74.4 million for intervening to prevent online retailers in Germany and France from selling its laptops and displays below recommended resale prices. ASUS systematically limited retailers' ability to set their own prices, violating EU antitrust rules on vertical restraints.

The FTC charged ASUS with failing to secure its routers, leaving hundreds of thousands of consumers' home networks vulnerable. ASUS routers had critical security flaws including default login credentials and a cloud service (AiCloud) that stored login credentials in plain text. ASUS agreed to a 20-year consent decree requiring independent security audits.