Protests Supporting The Anti-Diversity Google Memo Are Popping Up Across The Country

In nine cities this weekend, some people will attend a "March on Google" to protest what they see as the company's "anti-free speech" policies. The announcement was made one day after a white male Google engineer was fired for arguing in a widely-distributed memo that the gender wage gap is the result of biological differences between men and women, and that Google's pro-diversity initiatives are hurting the company.

The protest effort was announced in an unsigned post at marchongoogle.com on Aug. 8. Since then, it's been heavily promoted by Jack Posobiec, a prominent far-right Twitter personality, who appears to be helping organize the event and has been writing posts on the March for Google website.

"Google is a monopoly, and its abusing its power to silence dissent and manipulate election results," the initial announcement on the website read. "Their company YouTube is censoring and silencing dissenting voices by creating 'ghettos' for videos questioning the dominant narrative. We will thus be Marching on Google!"

At the bottom of the page is a picture of the Google logo reworked to read "Goolag," with the hashtag #GoogleManifesto below. That hashtag is a reference to the "anti-diversity" memo that got James Damore, a former Google engineer, fired. It's not surprising to see members of the alt-right rally to Damore's defense, considering his views on gender. From there, though, things get a little fuzzy.

The organizers of the March on Google list several grievances with the company, but there doesn't seem to be any unifying theme amongst those complaints. Whether or not Google has a monopoly on search results, for instance, is entirely unrelated to its internal policies on diversity. The organizers claimed that the company "manipulate[s] election results," but there is no evidence to back that up, and it's unclear how a search engine could or would accomplish that goal.

Bustle has reached out to Posobiec to request clarification on which Google policies in particular are being protested.

In addition to marching in front of Google offices in several states, organizers also say they'll demonstrate outside the personal residences of Google's higher-ups.

"People across the country will be protesting in front of the offices of every Google office," the website reads. "Protesters may also be exercising their free speech rights, which Google does not respect, by protesting in front of the homes of Google’s executive team."

In a post Monday, Posobiec distanced the March on Google from the recent violence at a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, with Posobiec saying that the organizers condemn hatred and bigotry "from any side." A follow-up post laid out a code of conduct for the marches, stating that the march condemns white supremacist groups and "will not use messages that are designed to incite anger, hate, or violence."