tl;dr for all you commenters not reading the article: Barry worked for "New America, a think tank and civic enterprise committed to renewing American politics,

tl;dr for all you commenters not reading the article: Barry worked for "New America, a think tank and civic enterprise committed to renewing American politics, prosperity, and purpose in the Digital Age." He criticized Google, a significant patron of the think tank, and got fired when Eric threatened to pull funding. This has little to do with at-will employment and much more about the impact of having most research privately funded in a capitalist environment.