Google has terminated 28 employees after protests about the company providing technology to the Israeli government during the Gaza war. This has increased tensions surrounding this controversial deal.
Google confirmed the firings after nine employees were arrested during sit-in protests in New York and Sunnyvale, California. The arrests occurred after the company called the police.
The dissent within Google is focused on “Project Nimbus,” a $1.2 billion contract signed in 2021 for cloud computing and artificial intelligence services for the Israeli government, which involves Google and Amazon.
Protests are primarily organized by a group called No Tech For Apartheid. Google states that Nimbus is not used for weapons or intelligence gathering.
Google attributed the firing of the 28 employees to “completely unacceptable behavior” that hindered some workers from doing their jobs and created a threatening atmosphere. The company also mentioned that it is still investigating the protests, suggesting that more workers could be fired.
No Tech For Apartheid accused Google of lying about what happened during the “peaceful sit-in” and claimed overwhelming support from other workers who weren't protesting.
No Tech For Apartheid asserted that Google's firing of employees indicates that the company values its $1.2 billion contract with the Israeli government more than its own workers.
The contract that has upset some Google workers is within the company’s cloud computing division, overseen by Thomas Kurian, a former Oracle executive.
Under Kurian’s leadership, cloud computing has become one of Google’s fastest-growing divisions, generating $33 billion in revenue last year, a 26% increase from 2022. Google's cloud computing services are also used by many private-sector companies and governments worldwide.
Google workers have previously protested over other deals and raised ethical concerns about the development of artificial intelligence.
In 2018, Google decided to end a contract with the U.S. defense department named “Project Maven” following an employee uprising over ethical concerns regarding military video analysis.
Alphabet Inc., Google’s parent company, reported a $74 billion profit last year and now employs about 182,000 workers worldwide — about 83,000 more people than in 2018 when it stopped Project Maven.
