Google Commits $175 Million, YouTube $100 Million to Black Advancement

Google CEO Sundar Pichai commits $175 million to enhance and improve black opportunities and life enhancements.

More than 1600 Google employees have signed an internal company petition as of Monday afternoon, June 22, calling upon Google to stop selling its software to police, reports Recode, who called it “one of the most significant showings of internal dissent at the company in the past few months.”

“We’re disappointed to know that Google is still selling to police forces, and advertises its connection with police forces as somehow progressive, and seeks more expansive sales rather than severing ties with police and joining the millions who want to defang and defund these institutions,” reads the petition, which was started by a group of Google employees called Googlers Against Racism last week and is addressed to Sundar Pichai, the CEO of Google parent company Alphabet. “Why help the institutions responsible for the knee on George Floyd’s neck to be more effective organizationally?”

The full scope of Google’s involvement with US policing is not well known. Standard-cloud-based software is widely available, as it is to all American businesses and organizations. Google also invests in police AI technology through its venture capital arm, Gradient Ventures.

Civil rights advocates have warned that police disproportionately use surveillance technology, such as AI-based facial recognition or drone surveillance, against Black communities — and that these practices could have a chilling effect on free speech if people feel they’re being unjustly surveilled in their everyday lives and when they engage in political activism.

Last week Google CEO Sundar Pichai (pictured above) announced a $175 million commitment targeted to fight anti-black racism and support black Google employees and their families. According to The Verge:

The $175 million commitment is part of an “economic opportunity package” that Google breaks down into four groups. The largest sum is $100 million in funding to be directed toward black-led venture capital firms, startups, and other organizations focused on black entrepreneurs. Another $50 million will be used as financing and grants for small businesses “focused on the Black community.”

Google says $15 million will go toward training programs for black job seekers, which will be operated by partners, while $10 million will be used to support black developers within Google’s ecosystem by offering access to “education, equipment and economic opportunities.” In addition to that funding, Google is committing $3 million to support black students with a focus on early computer science education.

Earlier in June, Google committed $12 million “to organizations working to address racial inequalities”. Separately, YouTube, which is owned by Google, announced a $100 million fund to support black creators.