Former Google PR boss launches scathing Silicon Valley attack
Former Google boss launches scathing Silicon Valley
attack urging tech giants to end the delusion that it's making the world a
better place
·
Google's own former PR chief Jessica Powell
called the firm 'deluded' in essay
·
She hit out in attack at the web giant, saying
the firm 'takes itself too seriously'
·
Executive breaks the code of secrecy which
surrounds Silicon Valley companies
By KATHERINE RUSHTON 17:44 EDT, 5 October 2018
A former Google boss has launched a withering attack on
the firm, calling technology giants deluded.
Jessica Powell said she had become tired of defending the
company in her role as its top PR chief.
‘This is an industry that takes itself far too seriously,
and its own responsibility not seriously enough,’ she added.
‘I want Silicon Valley to end the self-delusion and
either fess up to the reality we are creating, or live up to the vision we
market to the world each day. Because if you’re going to tell people you’re
their saviour, you better be ready to be held to a higher standard.’
Miss Powell, 40, launched her searing criticism in an
essay and satirical novel, both published this week, which together paint a
damning portrait of the Silicon Valley culture.
She said: ‘We go about saying that we’re building these
amazing things and doing great things for the world but we’re also causing a
lot of serious problems.
Her powerful assault is the first of its kind to come
from someone so senior at Google, and one of very few to come from Silicon
Valley where executives keep to a code of secrecy.
‘There is a real problem that we have of black and white
thinking – that we lead with data all the time. You say, “Oh well, of two
billion users maybe a small percentage of that is bad actors”.
‘It’s very easy to forget that that’s electoral
interference, that’s live-streamed suicides, that’s Myanmar. It’s really
horrific stuff.’
Her powerful assault is the first of its kind to come
from someone so senior at Google, and one of very few to come from Silicon
Valley where executives keep to a code of secrecy.
The former journalist, who has three children, said she
had been tempted to publish her novel – The Big Disruption – under a pseudonym
but felt an obligation to break the silence.
‘At a time when tech is under scrutiny for a number of
issues, it’s important that those of us who can speak up publicly do so without
the comfortable cloak of anonymity,’ she said.
Her essay paid tribute to the talented people she worked
with at Google and some of the products it has built. But more than a year on
from her departure, Miss Powell is scathing about big technology companies.
In one thinly-veiled attack, she accused them of using
the sheer size of their platforms as an excuse not to fix problems.
She said: ‘You can’t go about telling your advertisers
that you can target users down to the tiniest pixel, but then throw your hands
up in front of the politicians and say your machines can’t figure out if bad
actors are using your platform.’
Google has been widely criticised for allowing jihadists,
far-Right extremists and other hate preachers to post content on its YouTube
video platform. In some cases, it funnelled cash from advertisers to the
extremists posting videos.
But the firm has repeatedly told MPs it cannot stop
problem content because of the sheer volume of videos that are uploaded to
YouTube.
Miss Powell was in charge of the company’s response to
the criticism, reporting directly to Google’s chief executive Sundar Pichai.
Her decision to quit the lucrative role in August last
year surprised many in the industry. At the time, Miss Powell claimed she was
leaving to go back to university to study creative writing.
However, in her essay, published for free on the Medium
website, she admitted she needed to ‘take a break from the issues that I got
tired of defending at parties’.
She said: ‘On the surface, things seemed really important
and exciting. We were doing big things! Bringing the internet to the developing
world! But also, on some level, it all felt a bit off, like when you go on
vacation and find yourself wondering when it’s going to feel like the Instagram
pics other people have posted.’
Miss Powell also levelled criticism at Amazon and
Facebook.
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