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These workers had no moral high-ground to start with. Google is ad sales business and monopolistic one. Apparently workers are not concerned about the ethics

by nabla9 3y ago

These workers had no moral high-ground to start with. Google is ad sales business and monopolistic one. Apparently workers are not concerned about the ethics of the core business model. They just wanted to grandstand without any cost. Even without politics, if you work for Google, you are not making the world better place. Companies are fundamentally amoral money making entities. Do not cry for people being fired from an ad business.

yreg 3y ago
I for one don't believe working for Google is fundamentally unethical.
- nabla9 3y ago
  Neither do I. It's not very ethical, but its not fundamentally unethical. If you care about ethics, find something else than Google. If you want the money, put your head down and work.
- anotherhue 3y ago
  Because they've done so much for the human experience? Nonsense, they're an ad company and you're signing away your ethical credibility however you enable them.
gsky 3y ago
Exactly. 80% of the ads I see are downright scams.
- arethuza 3y ago
  On YouTube I think maybe 50% are scams and 98% are just plain irrelevant - I've come to the conclusion its really just a way of harassing me to sign up for YouTube Premium.
- constantcrying 3y ago
  I recently reported an ad for an obvious "get rich quick scheme", apparently advertising scams is okay with Google though...
  - gsky 3y ago
    I tried to report many times. It's not easy at all where I live. I instead intentionally install scamy apps to burn their ad budget
_jplc 3y ago
So, if you work for a company, any company, you can't express concern or protest in any way, because having your income depend on things like ad revenue invalidates you to protest against things like a genocide. Sounds like a healthy mentality /s
- nabla9 3y ago
  No. People can and should. Even hypocrites like these people should be able to expresses concern. We should not put much value for their expression of concern, because their standing is shaky. It's like working for tobacco firm and voicing concern about working with oil firms, but staying silent about tobacco.
  - _jplc 3y ago
    If you're working for a company that does something bad, let's say 50% bad, and now the company participates in something 90% bad, you're an hypocrite for raising concern? People have to balance their morality, their personal goals and their income. It's obvious that a shift in the company morality raises concerns. This pretends that no gray areas exists, and that participating any slightly unethical activity invalidates your opinion about greater problems.
- slowmovintarget 3y ago
  "They took over office spaces, defaced our property, and physically impeded the work of other Googlers". (from the New York Post article) That should get you fired. So no, you don't get to 'express your concerns' in that manner.
  - _jplc 3y ago
    If protesting isn't annoying, it's not protesting.
    - slowmovintarget 3y ago
      You get to protest in public, not on private property. One of those protesting employees was advocating the rape of all Jewish women. Making other employees fear for their safety (also mentioned in the news articles) is not just "annoying."
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
mrfinn 3y ago
In the other hand that ad business model allows them to provide services without charging money to the entire world, and that means a lot of people which otherwise wouldn't have a chance to access. Google made the web a much better place without any doubt, at least for a long time. But of course sometimes they also deserve valid criticism.
- nabla9 3y ago
  I'm with you. Companies are fundamentally amoral, and should be amoral. Demanding morality from them is not the right way. Youtube algorithm actively harms the society, but it's not the Google's job to care. The job to care is withing people as political actors first and as workers and consumers second.
  - JoeAltmaier 3y ago
    In that case, then companies need tight restrictions so they don't go all skynet on us. Environmental standards, fairness and equity, interest rate limits, restrictions on fees and so on. If that's what was meant, then I could get behind that 'amoral corporation' idea. Otherwise it's just carte blanche to pillage.
nunez 3y ago
Not everyone works at Google on ads. Google makes money from lots of areas.
- thesuperbigfrog 3y ago
  >> Google makes money from lots of areas. Around 80% of Google's revenue is from ads: https://www.statista.com/statistics/633651/alphabet-annual-global-revenue-by-segment/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/633651/alphabet-annual-g... They are primarily an ads business.
  - CydeWeys 3y ago
    Most of the employees are not working on ads though.
ta_9390 3y ago
[flagged]
toddmorey 3y ago
It’s complicated. There are some amazing people at Google genuinely and passionately working to make the web better and more open. I personally could not work there, but I don’t question the ethics of someone just because they are at Google. I’m trying to think in my head what other organization they could be employed at still doing the same high-quality work.

by nabla9 3y ago

yreg 3y ago

I for one don't believe working for Google is fundamentally unethical.

nabla9 3y ago
Neither do I. It's not very ethical, but its not fundamentally unethical. If you care about ethics, find something else than Google. If you want the money, put your head down and work.
anotherhue 3y ago
Because they've done so much for the human experience? Nonsense, they're an ad company and you're signing away your ethical credibility however you enable them.

gsky 3y ago

Exactly. 80% of the ads I see are downright scams.

arethuza 3y ago
On YouTube I think maybe 50% are scams and 98% are just plain irrelevant - I've come to the conclusion its really just a way of harassing me to sign up for YouTube Premium.
constantcrying 3y ago
I recently reported an ad for an obvious "get rich quick scheme", apparently advertising scams is okay with Google though...
- gsky 3y ago
  I tried to report many times. It's not easy at all where I live. I instead intentionally install scamy apps to burn their ad budget

_jplc 3y ago

So, if you work for a company, any company, you can't express concern or protest in any way, because having your income depend on things like ad revenue invalidates you to protest against things like a genocide. Sounds like a healthy mentality /s

nabla9 3y ago
No. People can and should. Even hypocrites like these people should be able to expresses concern. We should not put much value for their expression of concern, because their standing is shaky. It's like working for tobacco firm and voicing concern about working with oil firms, but staying silent about tobacco.
- _jplc 3y ago
  If you're working for a company that does something bad, let's say 50% bad, and now the company participates in something 90% bad, you're an hypocrite for raising concern? People have to balance their morality, their personal goals and their income. It's obvious that a shift in the company morality raises concerns. This pretends that no gray areas exists, and that participating any slightly unethical activity invalidates your opinion about greater problems.
slowmovintarget 3y ago
"They took over office spaces, defaced our property, and physically impeded the work of other Googlers". (from the New York Post article) That should get you fired. So no, you don't get to 'express your concerns' in that manner.
- _jplc 3y ago
  If protesting isn't annoying, it's not protesting.
  - slowmovintarget 3y ago
    You get to protest in public, not on private property. One of those protesting employees was advocating the rape of all Jewish women. Making other employees fear for their safety (also mentioned in the news articles) is not just "annoying."

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

mrfinn 3y ago

In the other hand that ad business model allows them to provide services without charging money to the entire world, and that means a lot of people which otherwise wouldn't have a chance to access. Google made the web a much better place without any doubt, at least for a long time. But of course sometimes they also deserve valid criticism.

nabla9 3y ago
I'm with you. Companies are fundamentally amoral, and should be amoral. Demanding morality from them is not the right way. Youtube algorithm actively harms the society, but it's not the Google's job to care. The job to care is withing people as political actors first and as workers and consumers second.
- JoeAltmaier 3y ago
  In that case, then companies need tight restrictions so they don't go all skynet on us. Environmental standards, fairness and equity, interest rate limits, restrictions on fees and so on. If that's what was meant, then I could get behind that 'amoral corporation' idea. Otherwise it's just carte blanche to pillage.

nunez 3y ago

Not everyone works at Google on ads. Google makes money from lots of areas.

thesuperbigfrog 3y ago
>> Google makes money from lots of areas. Around 80% of Google's revenue is from ads: https://www.statista.com/statistics/633651/alphabet-annual-global-revenue-by-segment/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/633651/alphabet-annual-g... They are primarily an ads business.
- CydeWeys 3y ago
  Most of the employees are not working on ads though.

ta_9390 3y ago

[flagged]

toddmorey 3y ago

It’s complicated. There are some amazing people at Google genuinely and passionately working to make the web better and more open. I personally could not work there, but I don’t question the ethics of someone just because they are at Google. I’m trying to think in my head what other organization they could be employed at still doing the same high-quality work.