You could call it the James Damore effect. A number of Google diversity advocates are reportedly being targeted by conservative Googlers and their “alt-right” cronies, according to Wired.
“15 current Google employees accuse coworkers of inciting outsiders to harass rank-and-file employees who are minority advocates, including queer and transgender employees,” Natasha Tiku reports. The harassment reportedly began in August, after screen grabs from Google’s private company forums were shared to “alt-right” sympathizing sites such as Breitbart. Using those images, members of forums like 4chan were allegedly able to link employee names with their respective social media accounts. Now, at least three trans Googlers have reportedly been doxxed, with their addresses, phone numbers, and deadnames publicly exposed.
Google diversity advocates also report being provoked into making inflammatory statements against white men, which are then reported to HR. Google says it has met with employees who’ve expressed concern in the matter and employees say that Google’s chief diversity officer has been supportive, but they’re still unclear as to what the outcome of these complaints will be. Alon Altman, a senior engineer and diversity advocate at Google, told Wired that the back-and-forth volley is essentially a DNS attack on the company’s HR department.
These events come after conservative Google employee James Damore was fired in August for sending a company-wide memo criticizing Google’s diversity efforts. In particular, it argued that women don’t often work in technical positions not because of institutional constructs or discrimination, but because of innate biological differences with men. Earlier this month, Damore, with another former Google engineer, filed a class action lawsuit. The suit alleges that Google mistreated and terminated staffers whose views differed “from the majority view at Google on political subjects.” It also claims that Google illegally used hiring quotas in order to improve its diversity numbers.
Last week, Google CEO Sundar Pichai reiterated that he does not regret firing Damore. He felt it was the right thing to do to make sure that Google continued to be a welcoming environment for women.
H/T Wired
