Recently throughout America, there have been marches for various causes happening. One such instance is the March On Google, which was planned in order to protest Google’s power and control of opinions on the Google-owned platform, YouTube, as well as free speech in the workplace. According to the March on Google website, this was a march for the free speech of Google workers, which the organizers felt was taken away by the massive corporation.

FHS Civics and Governments teacher Kelly Krawchyk said, “It depends entirely on the contract that you sign when you join the company. It’s unfortunately different between corporations like Google, schools, and mom and pop shops. You have more effect working for a business in a small town than in a huge corporation like Google.”

The March on Google was mainly organized by a worker for the company, James Damore, and several other across the country not associated with Google. The marches were planned for nine Google headquarters across America, which included the Google Office in Pittsburgh. Other cities where the March On Google was planned include New York City, Boston, Seattle and Atlanta, among others.

The marches were planned to happen on Aug.19; however, all the marches had to be postponed due to several news sources reported that the March On Google was organized by neo-Nazis. As a result of these accusations, several “Alt-Left” groups made threats to the peaceful protests, even going as far as saying that they were going to drive into the peaceful protesters. As a result, all of the protests were postponed to a later date. Since the planned marches, Damore has since been fired by Google for these planned events.

On a related topic, this is just one of many protests that have been going in America that have had the involvement of hate groups and terroristic threats. Another instance like this is the protests over the Confederate monuments in Charlottesville, VA. Several hate groups have been involved with these protests such as White Supremacists and neo-Nazis.

“I feel like anyone who was felt the need to in the past to speak behind closed doors and closed circles, people now feel a lot more public about their opinions, especially because of social media… They are able to share their ideology with others, which helps grow their numbers with the people who have the same opinions. Now they are able to reach a lot more people than 10 or 20 years ago,” Krawchyk stated.

This is just one of the potential reasons that many hate groups have come to light in recent months.

In the future, the March On Google is still planned to happen according to the March On Google website. Though the time and dates are subject to change, the message of this protest is still the same: to protest Google’s control over society and obtain free speech for all workers across America.