‘F— You!’: Press leaks during Google’s all-hands meeting enrage insiders and break a cardinal rule at the company

• Many Google employees were shocked to learn in real time that one of their own was leaking information to reporters during a company all-hands meeting on Thursday.
• Google managers and employees have a long tradition of not sharing what is said in all-hands meetings, known as TGIFs, but that changed Thursday.
• When tweets from a New York Times reporter indicated that someone was providing her with details from the internal discussion, many within the company appeared to react with anger, according to sources.
• The result: Google managers were handed a reason not to disclose any more information about the company’s controversial plans to operate again in China, and the cofounder Sergey Brin was made to look like a victim.

“F— you,” said the male Google employee standing at the microphone during a pivotal moment at the company all-hands meeting on Thursday night.

According to three sources in attendance who spoke with Business Insider, the man was addressing whoever within Google was relaying what was said at the gathering in real time to a New York Times reporter. The reporter had posted statements to Twitter that had been made just minutes before by Google’s cofounder Sergey Brin and CEO, Sundar Pichai, and her tweets were displayed on a large screen before the gathering.

Sharing what is said during these discussions – known internally as TGIFs – between leaders and employees has long been considered a no-no at Google. Few companies have as much regular open and frank communication about sensitive subjects with their staff, and the thinking is that leaks would make them impossible.

And that is probably why many inside Google appeared sympathetic to the sentiment expressed by the man at the mic. After he said the profanity and exhorted the leaker to leave, some in the audience applauded, the sources said. The man also received praise on Google’s internal communications systems.

The man at the mic spoke for many at Google

For Googlers, this was an extraordinary public rebuke, and it came during an exceptionally fractious period at the company.

Brin and Pichai were expected to discuss media reports from two weeks ago that indicated Google planned to operate once again in China, the sources said. In 2010, Google pulled out of that country rather than censor its search results to exclude information the Chinese government found objectionable. Some consider government censorship to be a human-rights violation.

A Google spokesman did not immediately respond to questions.

According to an August 2 report in The Intercept, Google had experienced a change of heart about China and had built a search application that would indeed filter out websites and other data banned by the Chinese government. The news angered and saddened many Google employees, who thought Brin and the other leaders had abandoned at least some of their well-publicized ethical values.

Google has long been known as a hippie haven, a workplace that possessed left-leaning political views.

That reputation was shaken, however, when news leaked late last year that Google had agreed to provide the Pentagon with artificial intelligence intended to help analyze drone video footage. Some experts argued the technology could also improve the accuracy of drone missile strikes. Thousands of Google workers signed a petition demanding leaders put an end to the relationship and promise to never produce AI-enhanced weapons. At least a dozen people quit in protest.

The protesters appeared to triumph. Google’s management released a set of governing principles for AI that included a promise never to build AI weapons, and it said it would allow its AI contract with the Pentagon to expire.

The press leaks backfired this time

Similar protests then sprang up at Amazon, Microsoft, and Salesforce. Many tech workers now feel they have the opportunity to influence the ways their companies approach ethical questions. Among these movements, one of the most potent tools has been press leaks.

But the practice appeared to backfire Thursday, according to the sources. Not only did the person who shared information to The Times, presumably someone involved with the movement inside Google, hand Pichai and Brin an excuse to stop discussing anything substantive about China at the meeting, but the executives were also made to look victimized by a breach of trust.

All of the sources who talked to Business Insider agreed that the display of the reporters’ tweets before the audience stunned the audience and marked a turning point at the meeting. All the momentum and sympathy swung in the direction of management. Some of the sources said they feared the leaks might have a chilling effect on the sharing of information among employees sympathetic to the protests.

One source said the leaker and The Times “overplayed their hand.”

Another called it a “stupid mistake” to tweet during the meeting. “It shocked Googlers and it was so unnecessary,” the person said. “Why didn’t they just wait until after the meeting to publish a full story?”