Current:Home > InvestGoogle fires more workers over pro-Palestinian protests held at offices, cites disruption -Mastery Money Tools
Google fires more workers over pro-Palestinian protests held at offices, cites disruption
View
Date:2025-04-16 04:57:07
Google has fired more than 50 staffers in the wake of in-office protests over the company's cloud computing deals with Israel, according to an activist group representing the former employees.
No Tech for Apartheid has protested the cloud computing contracts Google and Amazon have with the Israeli government since 2021. The group said that Google fired more than 20 employees Monday night, bringing the number of total firings to more than 50 since last week, the group said in a statement posted on Medium.
The firings came after nine employees were arrested on April 16 during sit-in protests at Google offices in New York City and Sunnyvale, California, The Washington Post reported.
What is the Meta AI tool?:Can you turn it off? New feature rolls out on Facebook, Instagram
Google: Fired employees 'directly involved in disruptive activity'
Google said it had fired a small number of employees who were involved in the protest, disrupting work at its offices.
"Our investigation into these events is now concluded, and we have terminated the employment of additional employees who were found to have been directly involved in disruptive activity," Google said in a statement to USA TODAY. "To reiterate, every single one of those whose employment was terminated was personally and definitively involved in disruptive activity inside our buildings. We carefully confirmed and reconfirmed this.”
No Tech for Apartheid challenged Google's descriptions, calling the firings "an aggressive and desperate act of retaliation … including non-participating bystanders during last week’s protests."
The protests at Google – like those at Columbia University and other colleges across the U.S. – have arisen in the wake of Israel's invasion of Gaza and the subsequent humanitarian crisis there. Israel's action came in response to an Oct. 7, 2023 attack by Hamas on Israel that killed nearly 1,200.
Cloud computing controversy
No Tech for Apartheid cites reporting from Time suggesting that a $1.2 billion cloud computing contract Israel awarded to Google and Amazon in 2021 − known as Project Nimbus − may be giving the Israel Ministry of Defense access to the cloud computing infrastructure.
Google has maintained its cloud computing deal is strictly for civilian purposes.
"We have been very clear that the Nimbus contract is for workloads running on our commercial cloud by Israeli government ministries, who agree to comply with our Terms of Service and Acceptable Use Policy," the company said in a statement. "This work is not directed at highly sensitive, classified, or military workloads relevant to weapons or intelligence services."
Google CEO Sundar Pichai addresses recent protests
Google CEO Sundar Pichai addressed the protests in an April 18 corporate realignment announcement on Google's blog:
"We have a culture of vibrant, open discussion that enables us to create amazing products and turn great ideas into action," he wrote.
"But ultimately we are a workplace and our policies and expectations are clear: 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 continued. "This is too important a moment as a company for us to be distracted."
Google's dismissal of employees has gotten attention in the past, including the 2020 firing of a top artificial intelligence researcher who criticized the company's diversity efforts. More recently, the company fired a Google Cloud engineer who disrupted the speech by the managing director of Google’s Israel business at a March tech event in New York, CNBC reported.
Contributing: Reuters.
Follow Mike Snider on X and Threads: @mikesnider & mikegsnider.
What's everyone talking about? Sign up for our trending newsletter to get the latest news of the day
veryGood! (11)
Related
- Off the Grid: Sally breaks down USA TODAY's daily crossword puzzle, Triathlon
- Could more space junk fall in the US? What to know about Russian satellite breaking up
- Cuba’s first transgender athlete shows the progress and challenges faced by LGBTQ people
- Shaboozey Shoots His Shot on an Usher Collab
- Macy's says employee who allegedly hid $150 million in expenses had no major 'impact'
- ESPN's Dick Vitale diagnosed with cancer for fourth time
- Céline Dion Makes Surprise Appearance at NHL Draft Amid Health Battle
- Cannibals, swingers and Emma Stone: Let's unpack 'Kinds of Kindness'
- US appeals court rejects Nasdaq’s diversity rules for company boards
- Florida Panthers celebrate Stanley Cup with parade, ceremony in rainy Fort Lauderdale
Ranking
- The 401(k) millionaires club keeps growing. We'll tell you how to join.
- Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone has fastest 400 hurdles time to advance to final
- Animal rescuers try to keep dozens of dolphins away from Cape Cod shallows after mass stranding
- Detroit cops overhaul facial recognition policies after rotten arrest
- Former longtime South Carolina congressman John Spratt dies at 82
- Lorde, Charli XCX’s viral moment and the truth about friendship breakups
- NHL draft trade tracker: Lightning move Mikhail Sergachev as big deals dominate Day 2
- 2024 NHL free agent rankings: Top 25 players to watch when free agency opens
Recommendation
Residents worried after ceiling cracks appear following reroofing works at Jalan Tenaga HDB blocks
Major brands scaled back Pride Month campaigns in 2024. Here's why that matters.
Summer doldrums have set in, with heat advisories issued across parts of the US South
Who plays Daemon, Rhaenyra and King Aegon in 'House of the Dragon'? See full Season 2 cast
Intellectuals vs. The Internet
Funny Car legend John Force opens eyes, five days after frightening crash
Kylie Jenner and Timothée Chalamet Step Out Together for the First Time in Months
NASCAR at Nashville 2024: Start time, TV, streaming, lineup for Ally 400