Apple has been told by its shareholders it needs to balance its left-wing views.

The company’s board of directors were told it needed more conservative voices and to stop discriminating against right-wing employees.

The criticism came at the company annual shareholders meeting at the Cupertino headquarters last Friday, investor and conservative advocate Justin Danhof said the company needed to balance its “left-wing view”.

Apple has been accused of being too left-leaning.

“When the company takes overtly political, legal, and policy positions, it would benefit to have voices from both sides of the aisle in the room,” he said, reported Business Insider.

“At this company, the consideration of conservative viewpoints appears to be discouraged if not altogether forbidden.”

Mr Danhof then introduced a proposal to have Apple disclose to shareholders the “ideology” of each of its director nominees.

According to a preliminary tally released by the company, the investors overwhelmingly voted against the suggestion - the measure secured just 1.7% of shareholder votes.

During the meeting, a questionnaire asked Apple chief executive Tim Cook what he would say to conservative employees who feel ostracised because of their political views, adding she had a friend who felt hated inside the company because of her conservative beliefs.

"We are open to people from all walks of life,” Cook responded.

“I would encourage [employees] to come talk to me if they have an issue.”

Tim Cook defended Apple in the meeting.

He also noted that he doesn’t see Apple’s pro-immigration, pro-environment, pro-diversity and pro-privacy stance as political.

“We don’t really look at the politics of it,” he said. “We think about the policy of it.”

Cook added Apple doesn’t donate “one penny” to political campaign and often has policies that are supported by both sides of the political spectrum.

Any investor with at least $2,000 in stock is allowed to submit a recommendation for consideration at yearly shareholder meetings.

While the subsequent votes are non-binding, any submission that receives a majority vote is often implemented by the firm’s board of directors.