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Google is fed up with employees who express political opinions.
The company released Thursday new community guidelines that address what employees are allowed to say within the company. According to the new rules, "disrupting the workday by having a political debate on politics or the latest news" does not "create a community", and employees must "avoid conversations disrupting the workplace or violating the place Google's work. " policies
"Our primary responsibility is to do the work for which we have each been engaged, not to spend time working on issues other than work," the guidelines say.
Recode reports that Google sent an email to employees Thursday night in which CEO Sundar Pichai introduced the new guidelines.
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A Google spokesman told Gizmodo that the community guidelines would apply to corporate mailing lists as well as all internal conversations.
When asked how Google would determine whether a political debate can be described as "raging" or "disruptive", the spokesman told Gizmodo that the community management team will have to evaluate this. Community moderators will be responsible for monitoring conversations in group forums and "will intervene and redirect the conversation or, in some cases, close or completely delete the thread," according to the spokesperson. The community management team usually tries to educate the workers before disciplining them.
The company is also creating a "central tracking tool" that will allow workers to post comments.
The guidelines show a significant shift from the "open communication culture" for which Google was known. But this culture has been increasingly problematic for Google in the last two years. Discussions within the company sparked discussions in August 2017 with the anti-diversity memo of James Damore, a Google employee at the time. But according to most accounts, this type of internal disagreement is limited.
Increasingly, Google faces political pressure as President Donald Trump launches baseless accusations against anti-conservative biases and censorship. Senators Josh Hawley and Ted Cruz "criticized" the company for its content moderation practices.
The guidelines also indicate that Googlers can "express their concerns and question and debate in respect of the company's activities." However, it is advisable to remain cautious.
"Make sure you speak with good information," the instructions say. "Do not assume that you have any history, and make sure you do not make false or misleading statements about Google products or activities that could affect the trust you place in our products and work. "
This worrisome warning seems to relate to employee activism, following recent protests against Google's participation in a Pentagon drone program, the company's work on a censored search engine for China, and mismanagement by the company. society of cases of sexual harassment and assault.
The paralyzing effect that will have on all areas of Google should be obvious. An employee may be afraid to come up with a product that would make the world a better place because the problem he is dealing with is political in nature. And if workers continue to discuss political issues, they will do so at the risk of falling into the trap of their supervisor's subjective perception of the term "raging". But at least Donald Trump will be happy to see the company bend on his knees a bit as he intensifies his attacks.
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