Google employee Emaan Haseem talks to the media as other demonstrators protest against the war in Gaza and Google’s work with the Israeli government on Tuesday, April 16, 2024, in front of the Google offices in Sunnyvale, Calif. Google has fired 28 employees in the aftermath of protests over technology that the internet company is supplying the Israeli government amid the Gaza war, further escalating tensions surrounding a hot-button deal.
In a blog post, No Tech For Apartheid accused Google of lying about what happened inside its offices during what it described as “peaceful sit-in” that received overwhelming support from other workers who weren’t participating in the protest. “This is a business, and not a place to act in a way that disrupts coworkers or makes them feel unsafe, to attempt to use the company as a personal platform, or to fight over disruptive issues or debate politics,” Pichai wrote. “This is too important a moment as a company for us to be distracted.
Google workers have periodically staged angry protests over other deals the company has been working on and have also raised ethical concerns about the way it is developing artificial intelligence.