Google's CEO, Sundar Pichai, canceled a scheduled all-hands staff meeting—moments before it was scheduled to begin—meant to address concerns over a controversial essay published by former employee James Damore. 
 
 In an email to staff, Pichai explained that questions from employees had been leaked and that, in some cases, specific employees' identities were revealed, exposing them to harassment and threats. Instead of today's large-scale meeting, which was to be livestreamed to Google's 60,000 employees worldwide, smaller groups will meet sometime in the future. 
 
 "We had hoped to have a frank open discussion today as we always do to bring us together and move forward. But our Dory questions appeared externally this afternoon, and on some websites Googlers are now being named personally," Pichai said in the email. 
 
 Pichai said in the email that while the majority of Googlers were supportive of the decision, some wished the company would do more. He said some also worried about not being able to speak freely at work. 
 
 "All of your voices and opinions matter and I want to hear them," he said. 
 
 Earlier in the day, questions began to be posted to Google's internal message boards that were to be included in today's planned meeting. 
 
 "Can we get an update on progress toward identifying leakers?" one employee posted, saying multiple Googlers had their team pages leaked to alt-right sites, resulting in a death threat in one instance. 
 
 "I am a moderately conservative Googler," wrote one employee, "and I am and have been scared to share my beliefs. The loud voice here is a liberal one. Conservative voices are hushed. What is leadership doing to ensure Googlers like me feel *invited and accepted*, not just tolerated or safe from angry mobs?" 
 
 Another question asked how to combat Damore's assertion that Google has a lower bar for diversity candidates. "This is hurting minority Googlers because it creates the perception they are less qualified," an employee wrote. 
 
 Pichai, who said that parts of Damore's manifesto violated Google's code of conduct, had cut his vacation short to attend today's schediuled meeting. 
 
 "Clearly there's a lot more to discuss as a group -- including how we create a more inclusive environment for all," he wrote in an email sent to employees Tuesday. 
 
 Damore's 3,300 word manifesto claims there aren't more women in tech roles due to "biological causes" while also calling Google left-leaning with a "politically correct monoculture." The memo has spurred a conversation about systematic sexism in Silicon Valley, as well as what is and is not acceptable to debate in a workplace environment. ||||| Google CEO Sundar Pichai has canceled the company’s much-anticipated meeting to talk about gender issues today. The move came after some of its employees expressed concern over online harassment they had begun to receive after their questions and names have been published outside the company on a variety of largely alt-right sites. 
 
 “We had hoped to have a frank, open discussion today as we always do to bring us together and move forward. But our Dory questions appeared externally this afternoon, and on some websites Googlers are now being named personally,” wrote Pichai to employees. “Googlers are writing in, concerned about their safety and worried they may be ‘outed’ publicly for asking a question in the Town Hall.” 
 
 Pichai was set to address the search giant’s 60,000 employees in 30 minutes in an all-hands meeting about a recent post by recently fired employee James Damore. In it, the software engineer claimed that women might not be as good as men at tech because of biological reasons, like “neuroticism.” In other words, they could not handle stress and high pressure as much. 
 
 Speaking of high pressure, Google is under that for sure in the wake of Damore’s blog and the reaction it has engendered from outside the company, especially among deeply conservative sites like Breitbart and others. 
 
 Wired reported earlier that conservative pundit Milo Yiannopoulos “posted on his Facebook page the Twitter biographies of eight Google employees who criticized Damore’s post.” 
 
 Sources inside Google said some employees had begun to experience “doxxing” — online harassment that can take various forms and is defined as “searching for and publishing private or identifying information about [a particular individual] on the internet, typically with malicious intent.” 
 
 Several sites like this one have been publishing internal discussion posts and giving out information on those employees. 
 
 In addition, in a move that many Googlers found already disturbing, Damore did his first major interview with alt-right YouTube personality, Stefan Molyneux (ironic, I know, since Google owns the online video giant). You can see that below. 
 
 In subsequent interviews, Damore said he had been “smeared” and “shamed” by top execs for his post. 
 
 That seems a little bit of a reach since he appears to have intended to throw an atom bomb with it. For example, Damore wrote: “I’m simply stating that the distribution of preferences and abilities of men and women differ in part due to biological causes and that these differences may explain why we don’t see equal representation of women in tech and leadership.” 
 
 What followed was a list of those differences, including a claim that women were more social and artistic and could not take the stress of high-pressure jobs. Hence, “neuroticism,” or higher anxiety and lower stress tolerance, which he claimed was backed up by studies. 
 
 Perhaps most disingenuously, the author also claimed that he had no voice, even after penning a 3,000-word memo that he was able to send companywide and also was read by millions more. 
 
 It was probably no surprise that Pichai fired Damore earlier this week for violating Google’s Code of Conduct, noting in an email to staff that “to suggest a group of our colleagues have traits that make them less biologically suited to that work is offensive and not OK.” 
 
 Since then, it’s been a tense time for Google and also Silicon Valley, which has been reeling for months amid sexual harassment controversies at companies like Uber and at venture capital firms. While issues around gender and diversity have been a hot-button issue for a long time, the simmering has turned to boiling now. 
 
 That has been made worse by the political environment nationwide, which has gotten rather divisive of late. 
 
 So goes the country, it seems, so goes tech. 
 
 Here is Pichai’s letter: 
 
 Dear Googlers, TL;DR Sorry for the late notice but we are going to cancel today’s Town Hall. We had hoped to have a frank, open discussion today as we always do to bring us together and move forward. But our Dory questions appeared externally this afternoon, and on some websites Googlers are now being named personally. Googlers are writing in, concerned about their safety and worried they may be “outed” publicly for asking a question in the Town Hall. In recognition of Googlers’ concerns, we need to step back and create a better set of conditions for us to have the discussion. So in the coming days we will find several forums to gather and engage with Googlers, where people can feel comfortable to speak freely. We’ll share details soon. Over the past two days, I have had the chance to meet with so many people here, and I have read each of your emails carefully. The vast majority of you are very supportive of our decision. A smaller percentage of you wish we would do more. And some are worried that you cannot speak out at work freely. All of your voices and opinions matter ... and I want to hear them. In the meantime, let’s not forget what unites us as a company — our desire to build great products for everyone that make a big difference in their lives. I have been in a few product discussions today and felt energized by the important things we are working on. We can, and will continue, to come together to do the very best for the people we serve. Stay tuned. Sundar ||||| Google chief executive officer Sundar Pichai, speaking at a coding event for girls happening at Google’s campus today, emphasized the importance of engineers “building products for everyone in the world,” and said that in order to do that, “we need to have people internally who represent the world in totality.” 
 
 “I want you to know there’s a place for you in this industry,” Pichai said to the teams of young women who were finalists in a months-long app-building competition. “There’s a place for you at Google. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. You belong here, and we need you.” 
 
 Pichai’s remarks were especially noteworthy because of their juxtaposition with the controversy happening at Google right now, after a software engineer posted a diversity-related memo that went viral both within the company and in public sphere. The author of the memo, which questioned Google’s diversity training and women’s aptitude for coding, has since been fired from the company, and has filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board. 
 
 The public appearance by Pichai also came just after Google canceled a company-wide town hall meeting, which had been scheduled to address some of the fallout from the memo. The meeting was canceled, according to a report in Recode, after employees who had sent preliminary questions started getting harassed online. 
 
 “It's really important that more women and girls have the opportunity to participate in technology, to learn how to code, create, and innovate,” Pichai said. 
 
 “Seeing the girls here tonight gives me hope for the future.” 
 
 The coding event this evening was co-hosted by Iridescent Learning, an LA-based nonprofit that has run the Technovation competition for the past several years. Google offers a variety of education opportunities focused on coding, as do many other large tech companies; this event was a part of its “Made with Code” program, aimed at young women. 
 
 Of course, as with other workshops, coding camps, and initiatives that tech companies offer, many of them still struggle with creating truly diverse workplaces, as their volunteered annual reports have shown. And Google has also been sued for its salary records by the US Department of Labor, which has alleged that Google doesn’t pay female employees fairly. 
 
 Pichai’s full comments are below:
– Google CEO Sundar Pichai planned to address the controversy over an anti-diversity memo at an all-employee town hall meeting—but he called it off after workers said they were worried about online harassment. Pichai said questions from employees had been leaked and their identities had been published on alt-right websites, exposing them to online harassment, CNN reports. "Googlers are writing in, concerned about their safety and worried they may be 'outed' publicly for asking a question in the Town Hall," the CEO said in a letter to employees seen by Recode. He promised to "create a better set of conditions for us to have the discussion" at some point in the near future. The controversy exploded after memo author James Damore was fired for arguing that biological differences make women unsuited to some tech jobs. After canceling Thursday's meeting, Pichai spoke at an event for girls on the Google campus, addressing teams of young coders from around the world, the Verge reports. It's important that "more women and girls have the opportunity ... to learn how to code, create, and innovate," he said. "I want you to know that there's a place for you in this industry, there's a place for you at Google," he added. "Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. You belong here and we need you." (Damore says he was "punished" and "shamed" for trying to "improve" the company.)