Google not too long ago made headlines not only for its technological developments however for a extra contentious situation. The tech big has dismissed 28 of its employees members following a sit-down protest that disrupted their common operations. 

This demonstration was held by the advocacy group “No Tech for Apartheid,” which opposes Google’s involvement in “Mission Nimbus,” a major contract with the Israeli authorities.

What led to the protest

The guts of the controversy is Mission Nimbus, a three way partnership between Google and Amazon, valued at $1.2 billion. This contract includes offering cloud providers to the Israeli authorities, which sure teams and people have extremely criticized. The protest, aimed toward halting this undertaking, befell in Sunnyvale, California, notably focusing on the workplace of Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian.

The demonstration lasted for about 10 hours, throughout which protestors occupied Kurian’s workplace and displayed indicators corresponding to “Googlers in opposition to Genocide.” This slogan highlights the protestor’s stance in opposition to what they understand as assist for aggressive army actions, referring to ongoing conflicts involving Israel.

The day of the demonstration

On the day of the protest, a major disruption was seen inside Google’s premises. Workers from numerous places, together with New York and Seattle, joined the protest, displaying their disapproval of Google’s enterprise selections. The scene at Google’s headquarters was tense, with movies circulating on social media platforms like X (previously Twitter) displaying police intervention as they arrested a number of Google staff.

The group organizing the protest identified that their actions had been in response to Google’s billing practices with the Israeli Ministry of Protection, citing a latest report from Time journal that detailed over $1 million charged for consulting providers.

Google’s response to the Protest

Following the protest, a Google spokesperson emphasised that the dismissals had been as a result of workers’ refusal to go away the premises after a number of requests, which necessitated police involvement to take care of security on the workplace. The spokesperson additionally acknowledged that Google is constant its investigations and can take additional actions if crucial.

Whereas Google acknowledges the protests as a part of a long-standing marketing campaign by sure organizations and people, it maintains that its cloud computing providers are supplied to quite a few governments all over the world. The corporate assures that these providers don’t assist extremely delicate, categorized, or army workloads associated to weapons or intelligence providers.