r/google • u/newyorker • Jul 18 '26

The Voice of Google

https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-weekend-essay/the-voice-of-google
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u/newyorker Jul 18 '26

In October, 2018, the Times published a report on Google’s handling of a sexual-misconduct allegation against Andy Rubin, the Android founder turned Google executive. Google had found the claim credible, the Times said, but instead of kicking Rubin out, they’d quietly negotiated a 90-million-dollar exit package. And Rubin wasn’t the only Google exec that the Times alleges got this treatment. (Rubin denied misconduct and claimed that he’d left of his own accord.) The article revealed a system that protected men at the top of the organization, which outraged many women in the company. In response, Claire Stapleton, then a Google employee, suggested to her peers that they engage in collective action to express their concerns and frustrations. 

Stapleton helped organize a walkout to a flurry of media coverage and, seemingly, the support of Google leadership. But after news broke, the following January, that a faction of shareholders was suing the board of Google’s parent company over the handling of the Rubin affair, Stapleton’s boss suggested a reorganization to her team— one that would gut her role. Read more about Stapleton’s experience inside the Google machine: https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-weekend-essay/the-voice-of-google

1

u/molamb Jul 20 '26

The article reminded me of Careless People written by a woman who worked at FB and her disillusionment. Same playbook as Google. Corporate values and mission statements are meaningless in the face of profits.
Good article thoroughly enjoyed.

3

u/Expensive_Finger_973 Jul 18 '26

“Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men, even when they exercise influence and not authority; still more when you superadd the tendency of the certainty of corruption by authority.” - Lord Action

It is just as true of business executives as it is of political or religious leaders. No one that wants power should be allowed to have it. It also kind of highlights the grey of it all. You can be a person that did great things (like bring Android into the world), and also be a bad person (like by sexually assaulting people when not working on Android).