Bloomberg has the story:

James Damore, the Google engineer who wrote the note, confirmed his dismissal in an email, saying that he had been fired for “perpetuating gender stereotypes.” A Google representative didn’t immediately return a request for comment.

Earlier today, though, “Google CEO Sundar Pichai [had] sent a note to employees that said portions of the memo ‘violate our Code of Conduct and cross the line by advancing harmful gender stereotypes in our workplace.’”



To be clear, Google is a private business and can fire whomever it pleases. But this decision sends a pretty strong message about what kind of company it is.

As CNN notes, Google prides itself on being a place “where employees can engage in open discussion about seemingly anything,” and it provides internal forums where they can have those discussions. Basic scientific findings about sex differences and what they might mean for the gender balance in tech, though, are apparently beyond the pale.