Illustration by Alex Castro
Alphabet and Google employees are trained to avoid using certain words and phrases in internal communications and “assume every document will become public,” according to a new report from The Markup. But Google says the practice, which it describes as standard compliance training, has been in effect for years.
A document titled “Five Rules of Thumb for Written Communications” states that “Words matter. Especially in antitrust law,” according to The Markup. Employees across the company, including engineers, salespeople, interns, vendors, contractors, and temp workers, are encouraged to avoid the terms “market,” “barriers to entry,” and “network effects” (the latter being a reference to how a social network gains value the more users it...
