Newsletter
Google has fired at least 40 people from its news division. The source says that Google fired somewhere between 40 and 45 workers from the Google News division. That info was shared with CNBC by an Alphabet Workers Union spokesperson.
Google unfortunately fired at least 40 people from its news division
That same source said that there are still hundreds of people left in that division. He added the following: “We’re deeply committed to a vibrant information ecosystem, and news is a part of that long-term investment”.
He also mentioned “internal changes” that will help “streamline” Google News, as a result of these layoffs. The spokesperson did say that Google is “supporting everyone [who got fired] with a transition period, outplacement services and severance”.
Needless to say, Google News is a popular source of news for many people. The company presents articles from various different sources and publishers, thus keeping people informed on the happenings according to their interests.
Google claims that these layoffs will not affect the quality of the service
Google’s spokesperson was also asked about the impact of these layoffs on Google’s battle against misinformation. He said the following: “These internal changes have no impact on our misinformation and information quality work in News”.
Following the layoffs, a staff engineer at Google News shared a post via LinkedIn: “These are some of the best and brightest people I’ve ever worked with”, while adding the following: “We’re definitely worse off without them”.
These layoffs are actually a part of the bigger picture over at Google. Back in January, Google announced it was going to cut 12,000 jobs across the company. That basically means it announced that it’ll fire around 6% of its entire workforce. Last month hundreds of jobs got eliminated, prior to these 40-45 layoffs.
It remains to be seen if this will have an effect on Google News as a product.