Name: Insights: A Look At The Activism, Walkouts, and other Internal Unrest Roiling Google
Uploaded: 2020-02-18
Duration: 2 min 43 s
Description: Employees are pushing back against the company's handling of sexual harassment claims and the secretive Dragonfly and Project Maven. (May 2019)

[MUSIC PLAYING] KRISTEN BELLSTROM: So Beth, let's talk a little bit about what's happening at Google right now. BETH KOWITT: So Google is going through a really interesting cultural moment. There is an unprecedented level of workplace activism happening there. So you're seeing employees who are pretty senior, been there for a really long time are starting to question management's business decisions in a really public way. So Google's always had that culture of debate, but it's been internal. And now, I think it's really bursting out into the public. This may have been the first time that the public was seeing this, but for months, there had been lots of different issues brewing inside the company. So you had the sexual harassment pay out, $90 million to Andy Rubin. That was the spark for the walkout. You also had these business decisions that Google had made kind of in secret. KRISTEN BELLSTROM: Two of the projects that come up again and again in this story are Project Maven and Dragonfly. Can you walk us through what both of those are? BETH KOWITT: Sure. So Dragonfly is a search engine project that Google was working on for China. And it was basically, censored search. And Google had pulled out of China in 2010, its search engine, basically for human rights reasons. And so when employees found out that the company was working on a censored search engine again for China, I think that that was one of the reasons that they were particularly upset. Project Maven is a contract with the Pentagon, by which the Pentagon was using Google's AI to look at drone footage and scan drone footage. And employees were really concerned that that technology, that Google technology could be used down the chain to make drone strikes more lethal. So again, really did not want Google engaged in any sort of warfare activity. Employees were saying this is not OK and were doing it very vocally. And so management, I think, is really trying to figure out, how can we keep the culture we've had of debate alive as we are now 100,000 employee company? What does this say about Silicon Valley and tech? And also, what does it say about the changing relationship between workers and their employers? Silicon Valley is always on the edge. And I think because we're seeing this here first, we're going to see it elsewhere, too. 

Insights: A Look At The Activism, Walkouts, and other Internal Unrest Roiling Google

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A Look At Internal Unrest Roiling Google

Employees are pushing back against the company's handling of sexual harassment claims and the secretive Dragonfly and Project Maven. (May 2019)

So let's talk a little bit about what's happening at Google right now. So Google is going through a really interesting cultural moment. There is an unprecedented level of workplace activism happening there. So you're seeing employees who are pretty senior, been there for a really long time, are starting to question management business decisions in a really public way. Google's always had that culture of debate, but it's kind of been internal, and now I think it's really bursting out into the public. This may have been the first time that that the public was seeing this, but for months there had been lots of different issues brewing inside the company. So, you know, you had this sexual harassment payout $90 million any Reuben. That was sort of the spark for the walkout. You'd also have these business decisions that Google had made kind of a secret. Two of the projects that come up began again and again in the story. Our project maven and dragon fly. Can you walk us through what both of those are sure? So Dragon Fly is a search engine, um, project that Google was working on for China and it was basically censored search and Google had pulled out of China in 2010 its search engine basically for human rights reasons on DSO. When employees found out that the company was working on a sensor to search engine again for China, I think that that was one of the reasons that they were particularly upset. Project Maven is a contract with the Pentagon by which the Pentagon was using Google's A. I Look a drone footage, um, scan drones. That footage And employees were really concerned that that would that that technology that Google technology could be used down the chain thio make drone strikes more lethal. Um so again, really did not want Google engaged in any sort of warfare activity. Employees were saying, This is not okay on we're doing it very vocally. Um, and so management, I think, is really trying to figure out how can we keep the culture? We've had to be alive as we are now. 100,000 employees company. What does this say about Silicon Valley and tech? And also, what does it say about the changing relationship between workers and their employers? Silicon Valley is always on the edge, and I think because we're seeing this here first, we're gonna see it elsewhere, too.