Ross LaJeunesse, the former Head of International Relations for Google (NASDAQ: GOOGL), has blasted his former employer in a blog post on Medium, assailing the company for its human rights policies and regaling stories of Google's practices and its relationship with China.
LaJeunesse took to Medium last week to talk about his time with Google, primarily regarding Google's efforts to establish its presence in China. Google's initial outing in China ended in 2010 due to human rights concerns regarding censorship and alleged hacking by the Chinese government. LaJeunesse was part of the company's decision-making process as founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin weighed on how to proceed with operations in China and executed the 2010 drawback when it was decided to put user privacy over China's censorship. Despite the decision, other executives at Google continually pressed to re-enter China. LaJeunesse was left out of the loop when Google undertook Project Dragonfly, a specially tailored, censored search engine for the Chinese market. Google would eventually push LaJeunesse out entirely by assigning someone else to oversee Dragonfly and demoting him. Dragonfly was eventually suspended in July of 2019 amid heavy controversy.
LaJeunesse pointed to many issues in the company; aside from its controversial push to establish a presence in China, Google had eyebrow-raising practices within its own offices. In his blog post, LaJeunesse describes an atmosphere where "Senior colleagues bullied and screamed at young women, causing them to cry at their desks.", and instances such as when a supervisor stated "Now you Asians come to the microphone too. I know you don't like to ask questions" during a meeting. "At a different all-hands meeting, the entire policy team was separated into various rooms and told to participate in a 'diversity exercise' that placed me in a group labeled 'homos'" LaJeunesse says of a particularly concerning incident, "participants shouted out stereotypes such as 'effeminate' and 'promiscuous.' Colleagues of color were forced to join groups called 'Asians' and 'Brown people' in other rooms nearby."
Google has since rebuffed LaJeunesse's blog post, stating that "We have an unwavering commitment to supporting human rights organizations and efforts." Google would also claim that it rigorously investigates any claims of inappropriate conduct.
Since his departure from Google, LaJeunesse has become a candidate to become a U.S. Senator in Maine, aiming to usurp Senator Susan Collins. LaJeunesse has targeted Collins' seat claiming that she has "betrayed the trust of Maine voters," pointing to her support of the heavily controversial tax-cut bill and the appointment of unqualified judges. LaJeunesse is also campaigning on a platform of regulating tech giants; LaJeunesse claimed that politicians in Washington lack an understanding of the sweeping technological advancements taking place and their potential effects on the American public.