At exactly 11:10 a.m. on Nov. 1, 2018, tens of thousands of Google employees poured out of their offices in a coordinated protest against the company’s abuse of power. To clarify, Google had protected and paid an estimated $100 million to high-up executives accused of sexual harassment and discrimination toward employees. 

Upon learning about these allegations, Claire Stapleton, a Google employee at the time, decided to create a group chat to unite the female employees at Google. The original plan was to coordinate “a day without women [to] register our dissatisfaction about how this has been handled,” as she stated in an interview with CNN Business. To Stapleton’s surprise, the idea quickly gained momentum, and a core group of organizers was soon established to serve as a central operation for the walkout. 

Meredith Whittaker, the co-founder of the AI Now Institute and former Google employee, was one of seven others willing to step up and lead the protest. After thirteen years at Google, she had risen through the ranks to become a “researcher and a public voice on AI issues.” Nonetheless, she never hesitated to speak up against the company, having previously organized “around a number of ethical issues involved with Google’s choices about where and how to deploy their technology,” she said. 

Nearly 20,000 workers in 50 cities stormed out of their offices to participate in the Google Walkout For Real Change. Google employees made it clear that day that they did not feel heard nor respected at their workplace. Many held signs that read “Women’s rights are human rights” while chanting “Time is up.” Organizers of the protest read out anonymous stories from their colleagues who experienced sexual harassment or unfair treatment while at Google. 

Coordinating the protest, however, did not come without risk. In the months following the walkout, Google retaliated against core organizers of the protest. Claire Stapleton and Meredith Whittaker claim that speaking up cost them their careers. Both were pulled aside by management and explicitly told that they could either leave the company or face demotion until asked to leave. By the summer of 2019, Stepleton and Whittaker made the decision to quit.

As a result of this protest, Google created a more efficient system for handling employee complaints. In February, the company announced that it would end forced arbitration for claims of sexual harassment and assault. But, protests continue as Google fails to meet a number of demands, one of the most prominent concerns being inequity in pay and opportunity. 

People like Stapleton and Whittaker have inspired others to speak up and advocate against injustice. Whittaker said, “I think that what we’ve seen is the widespread growth of something that is shaping up to be a formidable movement. People are saying, not only do I not want to be exploited at work, I refuse to contribute to harm outside of work. I refuse to build artificial intelligence for a military drone program. I refuse to work for the JEDI project.”

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