Google has become a company where outrage mobs and witch hunts dominate its culture. These outrage mobs and witch hunts have become an existential threat not only to Google’s culture internally, but to Google’s trust and credibility externally.
Google has long claimed to be a nonpartisan company, yet like many other tech companies, they also maintain many policies against “hate speech”. How do we reconcile these two apparently conflicting goals? While this statement came from a spokesperson for Facebook, it could just as easily apply to Google, Twitter, and many other tech companies.
We’ve always banned individuals or organizations that promote or engage in violence and hate, regardless of ideology.
An astute reader will notice that this response does not actually answer the question; it merely shifts it from one point to another. Instead of asking, “Is Google a nonpartisan company?” we instead ask, “Does Google apply a nonpartisan definition of hate speech?”¹
(As for Facebook, we now know that they have a list of “hate agents” that includes Candace Owens.)
So what exactly is the definition of hate speech? Well, let’s just ask the outrage mobs at Google that succeeded. One outrage mob formed when Google sponsored CPAC, and they created an internal petition titled, “Google, Don’t Sponsor Hate.” Another outrage mob formed when Kay Coles James, President of the Heritage Foundation, was appointed to an AI ethics panel, and they created an external petition from a Medium account called “Googlers Against Transphobia and Hate.”
But don’t worry, these outrage mobs are not opposed to all conservatives. They are only opposed to the “hateful” conservatives.
The conservative Google employee who was reportedly fired (according to the linked article) published this essay on Medium two weeks ago: https://medium.com/@mikewacker/googles-outrage-mobs-and-witch-hunts-b1d8fa9c74d9
Read the whole thing. Here’s an excerpt:
And confirmation that he was fired: “In all fairness, I tried the persuasion and engagement strategy. It worked at Cornell, but it got me fired at Google.” https://twitter.com/m_wacker/status/1136796006136156161