Google Fires Over 50 Workers for Protesting Israeli Tech Contract
Google terminated the jobs of at least 50 employees in response to protests over the company's involvement in providing cloud computing and artificial intelligence services to the Israeli government during the Gaza war.
The protests, organized by the group No Tech For Apartheid, took place at Google offices in New York and Sunnyvale, California, resulting in arrests by the police.
The initial report of terminated employees was 28, but the group later announced that 30 workers had been let go.
Google fired over 50 employees, including bystanders during last week's protests, according to No Tech For Apartheid spokeswoman Jane Chung.
Google claimed it conducted investigations based on reports of disrupted coworkers and identified employees who hid their identities with masks and didn't carry their badges.
The terminations were met with criticism, with Chung stating that Google was trying to silence dissent and quash worker protests without due process.
The text reports that Google, based in Mountain View, California, terminated the employment of some employees without specifying an exact number.
The company denied the terminated employees' claims, stating that each individual was personally involved in disruptive activity inside the company's buildings.
Previously, Google had hinted that more employees could be let go as the company focuses on enhancing its AI technology, with CEO Sundar Pichai expressing this intention in a blog post.