(NewsWorthy.news) – Google employees staged sit-in protests on April 16 at the company’s offices in California and New York City over the company’s links to the Israeli government.
The group of protesters in California occupied the office of Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian and proceeded to livestream the demonstration on Twitch. The protests began in the morning and lasted into the evening. Google employees also organized protests at other locations such as Seattle. The activists at both Kurian’s office and the Chelsea workspace in New York City were arrested by police and summarily fired by the company.
Project Nimbus has long sparked controversy. In 2021, anonymous Google and Amazon employees published a joint statement condemning the project’s ties to the Israeli military and concerns that the technology was being used by the Israeli government to harm and persecute Palestinians. Protestors were calling for the company to stop supporting “genocide for profit.”
The billion-dollar deal was signed in 2021 and granted Israel’s government access to the company’s advanced artificial intelligence and cloud computing capabilities. These include AI-based facial recognition, object tracking services and automated image categorization. The workers at the protests claimed that these services are being utilized to support Israel’s war effort in the conflict in Gaza and that the company is even potentially participating in what the activists called “AI-powered genocide” in the region.
One of the fired employees, Emaan Haseem, stated to ABC7 News that she could not come to work each week without vocally condemning Project Nimbus and any support for the Israeli regime. She added that several members of staff had already resigned from the company in protest.
A spokesperson for Google said that the No Tech For Apartheid activists were physically impeding other workers and preventing them from accessing facilities in clear violation of the company’s policies. They added that the company would investigate and take action, stating that the employees who took part in the protests were placed on administrative leave and denied access to the company’s systems. According to the spokesperson, the protesters were arrested by law enforcement after refusing to leave the premises.
Copyright 2024, NewsWorthy.news
