Google's internal bulletin board 'Memegen' goes crazy over the Israel-Gaza war, leading to systematic 'low ratings' and partial deletion of indices
Google has reportedly changed the rating system for posts on Memegen, an internal message board at Google, after employees got into a heated discussion on the Israel-Gaza war on the platform.
Google to Tone Down Message Board After Employees Feud Over War in Gaza - The New York Times
Memegen is an internal Google message board established in October 2010, and serves as a casual forum for sharing things like frank criticism of superiors and black jokes about layoffs. Memegen allows users, Google employees, to rate posts, and popular posts are displayed at the top of Memegen.
However, a heated debate has broken out among Google employees at Memegen over the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip since October 2023. In particular, some Google employees have called for Google to abandon 'Project Nimbus,' a project in which Google works with Amazon to provide cloud computing to the Israeli government, which has also fueled the controversy at Memegen.
And on Memegen, discussions got so heated that they turned into personal attacks, with people systematically down-voting posts they didn't agree with to prevent them from appearing as topics on the platform.
According to a memo recorded by an internal moderator at Google in February 2024, complaints about Memegens increased sharply in the second half of 2023, indicating that systematic downvoting of posts is a form of bullying. Google then stated that it was making changes to the system based on feedback that downvotes on Memegens were negatively impacting employees and that the metrics made the message board too competitive, and removed some of the 'downvotes' and metrics showing the popularity of posts.
Even after the changes have been made to the system, employees can still post and comment on Memegen, criticizing or poking fun at the company or its policies is OK, but personal attacks and abusive language are prohibited.
This is not the first time Google has taken control of Memegens. In 2019, the company introduced community guidelines aimed at setting boundaries for its internal message boards, emphasizing the need to be respectful and not troll or abuse politically. At the time, Google commented, 'Our responsibility is to do the work we are given, not to spend work time discussing topics outside of work.'
In response to this system change, some Google employees posted on Memegen, saying, 'The system change will ruin Memegen. That's what Google is all about.' This post was liked by more than 8,000 employees.
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