‘Holy Sh*t’: Breitbart’s Leaked Google Video Stuns Media

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Breitbart News
Joshua Caplan

Journalists, media executives, and political figures reacted Wednesday afternoon to a Breitbart News report revealing leaked footage of Google’s first all-hands meeting following the 2016 presidential election in which executives of the Silicon Valley giant expressed disillusionment with President Donald Trump’s victory.

As reported earlier by Breitbart News’Allum Bokhari, the eye-brow raising footage shows Google co-founder Sergey Brin contrasting supporters of President Trump with fascists driven by “boredom.”

“The Google co-founder then asks his company to consider what it can do to ensure a “better quality of governance and decision-making.” VP for Global Affairs Kent Walker argues that supporters of populist causes like the Trump campaign are motivated by “fear, xenophobia, hatred, and a desire for answers that may or may not be there,” writes Bokhari.

Yelp’s Senior Vice President of Public Policy Luther Lowe was among the first Silicon Valley executives to share the story, tweeting: “[U]mm… WOW. Breitbart just dropped video of a full TGIF (Google’s confidential company-wide meeting) the day after the election. Might send a bottle of scotch to Google D.C. What a nightmare.”

Digital Content Next CEO Jason Kint said the leaked video confirmed, “Google is having a very, very, very bad day,” citing Breitbart News’ report, along with various other legal fights the technology giant involved in.

Reporters from a handful of business and technology news outlets expressed their amazement with the footage.

The Guardian Media Editor Jim Waterson noted, “[T]he fact someone within Google leaked the video to Breitbart is as interesting as the content.”

Motherboard Managing Editor Emanuel Maiberg snidely called the video a “truly frightening display of executives saying they respect the democratic process over and over again.”

Business Insider News Editor Rob Price acknowledged the report was a “Huge scoop.”

https://twitter.com/robaeprice/status/1039978506812194816

The Hill’s Eddie Zipperer concurred with Price.

Cyber Scoop News’ Patrick Howell O’Neill was less surprised than his fellow journalists, arguing Google co-founder Sergey Brin’s opposition to President Trump, specifically the administration’s immigration policy, was well-publicized prior to the leak. “Sergey Brin has shown up at the San Francisco protests against Trump’s immigration policy. He’s spoken on the record to reporters there about how he, an immigrant, opposes Trump’s policies,” said O’Neill. “Hard to be shocked he also tells his company he’s upset by Trump.”

Felix Simon of the European Journalism Observatory begrudgingly shared the article, admitting it was “indeed a scoop.”

Buzzfeed also took a remarkably neutral tone about the video, claiming “It will likely add fuel to conservative arguments that Silicon Valley is arrayed against the right.”

Wired Senior Writer Nitasha Tiku: “Holy shit. worth noting that Breitbart’s Google leaks began with internal responses to James Damore’s memo that doxed some trans and poc employees.”

“Feels really weird tweeting a Breitbart story,” said reporter Daniel Van Boom, adding, “but, well, this is… interesting.”

https://twitter.com/dvanboom/status/1039982177306529793

Media Research Center founder Brent Bozell called the video a “smoking gun,” and prove that Google’s management team are anti-Trump. “[T]ere is no doubt that their company practices reflect that. We need hearings now. Google cannot continue to run and hide,” he said. The conservative activist also described the report as “an extraordinary look into the bowels of the far, far left of America.”

The Federalist’s Molly Hemingway tweeted: “This video is amazing. Around 30 minutes in, someone asks about the Trump effect on the stock market and the CFO says that what’s really sad is that rubes voted for Trump because they felt left behind but banks are the ones who are going to benefit. That didn’t age particularly well.”

President Donald Trump’s 2020 campaign manager Brad Parscale called on Google to explain why this isn’t a “threat” to the U.S. “Watch the video,” he urged. “Google believes they can shape your search results and videos to make you “have their values”. Open borders. Socialism. Medicare 4 all. Congressional hearings!”

The president’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., shared the article, tweeting mockingly, “But they’re not at all biased at google.”

Security Studies Group’s Nick Short suggested Google executives declined an invitation to testify before Congress last week because they would be asked about their perceived anti-Trump bias. “No wonder #Google CEO Sundar Pichai refused to testify in front of the Senate Intelligence Committee last week,” Short wrote.

Reacting to Google’s statement regarding the video, Fox News reporter Adam Shaw said: “I challenge anyone to watch that video and say with a straight face that a Trump-supporting Google employee would be able to “freely express their opinions.”

Republican National Committeewoman Harmeet Dhillon noted: “These are these are the people who signed off on the decision to fire James Damore and his supporters in the company — and who now claim that there is zero political bias in Google’s employment policies.”

Nigel Farage, former UKIP leader and Vice Chairman of Leaves Means Leaves, suggested an investigation should be launched into Google. “This investigation needs to happen sooner rather than later. It has been a long time coming,” he wrote.

Bloomberg Businessweek’s Max Chafkin called the report “fascinating in all sorts of ways.”

“Really feels like there’s a political storm gathering that threatens all of big tech, google most immediately,” the outlet’s Features Editor added.

Washington Post reporter Tony Romm dismissed the video significance and bizarrely accused Breitbart News of selectively omit quotes from the report contradicting its “thesis.”

https://twitter.com/TonyRomm/status/1039993903083122688

https://twitter.com/TonyRomm/status/1039994726370422785

https://twitter.com/TonyRomm/status/1039995679874134018

New York Times reporter Jack Nicas curiously revealed he viewed the meeting “months ago,” and “led” with it for a story about thawing relations between Silicon Valley and President Trump.

Recode’s Kara Swisher sneeringly tweeted that the video was a “big shock.”

“Sergey Brin, who is an immigrant, created hyper-tolerant company and has been vocal on social issues of all kinds (bye China!), does not like Trump,” she said.

 

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