According to various social media reports coming through, Google has undertook a mass walkout today in protest of President Trump’s recent executive order which places a ban on immigration. At the moment, the details on the walkout are a little limited and as such, it is unclear whether this was a company-orchestrated protest or an employee one. Likewise, it is unclear how long the protest is designed to be in effect for. In either case though, it is clear that Google as a company supports the protest as social media reports do confirm that Google’s Sundar Pichai and Sergey Brin were present and taking part in the demonstration and have been noted addressing the crowds on the topic. Further reiterating that such a ban would be gravely detrimental to the industry.
So far, it seems that today’s protest walkout(s) were certainly designed for maximum impact and exposure as according to the reports, as many as 2,000 Googlers from as many as 8 campuses are taking part in the protest move. In addition, it seems many of those same Googlers have been using the hashtag #GooglersUnite on Twitter to post images and draw further attention to the aim of the protest. Including some of Google’s own official Twitter handles as the image shown above came through Google’s recruitment-focused Twitter account, @LifeatGoogle. Along with the statement that “at HQ today #GooglersUnite to show solidarity with immigrants, refugees, Muslims and fellow Googlers worldwide”. Overall, this seems to be an extremely effective move as right now #GooglersUnite is trending on Twitter.
In terms of the actual ban, the immigration order which was signed off by President Trump on Friday looks to, among other things, temporarily stop persons from seven specific countries from entering the US. A move which many technology sector-related advocates have already spoken out publicly against, suggesting that this would be bad for the tech sector in general, including Google’s own Sundar Pichai. While Sergey Brin was also noted over the weekend taking part in another protest which took place at San Francisco International Airport. Interestingly, as part of Pichai’s previous comments on the ban, Pichai was noted stating “we’ve always made our view on immigration issues known publicly and will continue to do so” – which certainly seems to be the case with today’s demonstration.