Why tech firms are trying to run away from politics—and failing
As other firms become more political, some Silicon Valley companies are heading in the opposite direction
WHEN AT WORK, steer clear of politics. This rule, generally accepted around the world, does not apply in techland. Employees bring their “whole self to work”, including their political beliefs. Internal online forums are full of heated debates about social issues, ranging from sexual harassment to police brutality. Some firms have started to push back. Facebook, Google and Shopify discourage political debates on their internal message boards. Basecamp, a small but culturally influential maker of web software, recently caused a stir when it declared itself a politics-free zone, as Coinbase, a cryptocurrency exchange, had a few months earlier.
This article appeared in the United States section of the print edition under the headline “Woke at work”
United States May 22nd 2021
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