Google abruptly cancels all-hands meeting on manifesto flap
Elizabeth Weise, USATODAY
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — Google abruptly canceled a town hall meeting late Thursday afternoon amid concerns over employee safety.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai was to address employees at the company's headquarters here and over a live-stream worldwide about fallout from former employee James Damore's gender manifesto and his subsequent firing.
But minutes before the meeting was to start, Pichai said in an email to Googlers it was scotched over concern over online harassment of employees whose names and questions were published on alt-right websites.
"Googlers are writing in, concerned about their safety and worried they may be 'outed' publicly for asking a question in the Town Hall," Pichai wrote. His email message was first reported by Recode.
Google confirmed the email to USA TODAY.
The last-minute cancellation is the latest twist in a saga that began last Friday with a few tweets about a long memo by a Google engineer quickly became a publicity inferno, calling into question Google's focus on increasing the number of women, African-Americans and Hispanics in its technical and leadership ranks, as well as the company's commitment to free speech and the limits of internal debate.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2017/08/10/google-gears-up-all-hands-meeting-manifesto-flap/557046001/Concerns for employee safety?
