Google harms Black people—from users to workers—when they do not address the racial bias issues in their services and technology.

John,

A better future is possible—one where Google prioritizes the safety of Black people. Because of support from Color Of Change members like you, John, we are one step closer to pushing more Big Tech companies to conduct racial equity audits. In early March, Apple shareholders approved a proposal for the board to “conduct a third-party audit examining company policies and provide recommendations to improve its civil rights impact.”1 This progress comes after we forced Facebook to undergo a civil rights audit, disclose the results, and publish its progress. Now it’s Google’s turn.

As more Big Tech companies are taking steps to install safeguards to protect Black people, we must continue to pressure Google to do the same. 

TELL GOOGLE TO CONDUCT A RACIAL EQUITY AUDIT NOW

Last month, a Google executive, Urs Hölzle, tweeted that there is financial merit to buying and selling people—which is, in a word, slavery.2 As if unknowingly making an argument for slavery isn’t concerning enough, Hölzle was hired by the Google founders themselves, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, as the eighth employee of the company.3,4 This means that his tenure has shaped Google’s technology, and that technology has not centered racial justice. Such has been clear from Google’s history of returning hypersexualized and pornographic results and advertisements for an Images search for “Black girls,” and Google Photos tagging Black people as gorillas on the platform.5,6 Because of the leadership of people like Hölzle, Google’s Black workers must contend with a hostile work environment, lower pay, and limitations to their professional advancement.7 As workers organized around ethical concerns and tried to hold the company accountable, Google fired them.8 Problems like these would start to change by conducting an independent racial equity audit, which would highlight specific areas where Google can eliminate discrimination in its products and workplaces.

JOIN US IN CALLING ON GOOGLE TO GO #BEYONDTHESTATEMENT

We must force Google to prioritize and center racial justice, and address the racial bias issues in its current services and technology to prevent issues in the future. Last year, Color Of Change sent a mobile billboard to the Google campus calling executives out for their inaction, and we are continuing to find new ways to keep the pressure on Google to conduct a racial equity audit, which is long overdue. When we hold tech companies accountable for their products and practices that harm Black people, we will have real opportunities to thrive.

A truck that says "Google, do a racial equity audit now" outside the Google San Francisco office. 

Until justice is real, 
—Jade Magnus Ogunnaike

References: 

  1. Kif Leswing, “Shareholders vote for Apple to conduct a civil rights audit, bucking company’s recommendation,” CNBC, March 4, 2022, https://act.colorofchange.org/go/351427?t=8&akid=53195%2E4731121%2EyiWaT9.
  2. Martin Coulter, “A longtime Google executive provoked criticism from colleagues after posting and deleting a tweet about buying and selling people for profit,” Business Insider, March 16, 2022, https://act.colorofchange.org/go/351428?t=10&akid=53195%2E4731121%2EyiWaT9.
  3. Ibid.
  4. Hugh Langley, “A Google executive apologized to employees after tweeting about the merits of buying and selling people for profit. 'The connections to slave trading that should have been obvious to me simply weren't,' he wrote.,” Business Insider, March 16, 2022, https://act.colorofchange.org/go/351429?t=12&akid=53195%2E4731121%2EyiWaT9.
  5. Safiya Umoja Noble, “The Enduring Anti-Black Racism of Google Search,” OneZero, July 14, 2020, https://act.colorofchange.org/go/349138?t=14&akid=53195%2E4731121%2EyiWaT9.
  6. James Vincent, “Google ‘fixed’ its racist algorithm by removing gorillas from its image-labeling tech,” The Verge, January 12, 2018,  https://act.colorofchange.org/go/349139?t=16&akid=53195%2E4731121%2EyiWaT9.
  7. Guardian staff and agencies, “Google gives Black workers lower-level jobs and pays them less, suit claims,” The Guardian, March 18, 2022, https://act.colorofchange.org/go/351430?t=18&akid=53195%2E4731121%2EyiWaT9.
  8. Lauren Kaori Gurley, “Google settles with 4 engineers over complaint it fired them for organizing,” Vice, March 21, 2022, https://act.colorofchange.org/go/351431?t=20&akid=53195%2E4731121%2EyiWaT9.