Google employees practically rioted when they found out their employer was trying to get a contract with the American Government, but will just cash their RSUs when they help the Chinese government censor its citizens.
This is a leak. It is likely most employees didn't even know about this project until it just now hit the news. We will probably know more in the coming months if/when the broader employee population finds out about it and reacts to it.
Shit, I don't know about 99% of the projects my company has been working until they hit the news.
Since it only became known due to it being leaked, the news probably just hit the employees today, and they're already sharpening up their pitchforks. Their successful derailing of the US military program should give some hope. Obviously worker and owner motivation/interests at companies rarely align. At most companies, workers have zero say over what management/owners want to do, but it could be that internal organization at G is stronger than at other companies. I guess we'll see.
The difference is that providing a censored service is better than no service. Android for example is a much more limited experience in China. Do you honestly not think a Chinese citizen would prefer having a limited Play Store than none at all? Chinese people don't go around searching about Tiananmen Square every day, and they would much rather have access to all the cat videos on Youtube than none at all.
Whereas the Maven project, there wasn't really a user benefiting.
This is not about what the Chinese or any other government is doing. It is about the decisions of Google and certain employees of Google.
Deciding to not join with others in the national defense is a very divisive and political decision.
Deciding to aid totalitarian governments with censorship and other activities is likewise divisive and political.
Deciding to back one major political party, but not the other - similarly divisive and political.
If they didn't want the criticism, they would just take the bucks and do the business for whoever is paying. They are at least giving the appearance of making these decisions on ideological grounds. This moves them more into the arena of being an political organization. In which case, saying you're just doing business is pretty lame.
It should be obvious why Google's US employees dislike Trump more than China. China is just something far far away they can choose to ignore or punch depending on circumstances, but they are living the reality shaped by Trump. It might seem ironic, but pretty real TBH.
Sad.