In a significant development, more than 1,000 students have pledged not to work for tech giants Google and Amazon, protesting the companies’ involvement in Project Nimbus. This initiative sees Google and Amazon providing cloud computing services to the Israeli government, a collaboration that has sparked widespread controversy.
The boycott is spearheaded by No Tech for Apartheid (NOTA), a coalition of tech workers advocating for the termination of contracts between major tech companies and the Israeli government. According to Wired, over 1,100 STEM students and young professionals have signed a pledge refusing job offers from Google and Amazon, citing the companies’ role in supporting what they describe as “Israel’s Apartheid system and genocide against Palestinians.” NOTA’s goal is to secure 1,200 signatures for their campaign.
A segment of the pledge reads: “As young people and students in STEM and beyond, we refuse to have any part in these horrific abuses. We’re joining the #NoTechForApartheid campaign to demand Amazon and Google immediately end Project Nimbus.” Project Nimbus, a $1.2 billion contract, involves providing the Israeli government and military with advanced cloud computing, machine learning, and artificial intelligence services. Despite this, a Google spokesperson has stated that the contract does not include “highly sensitive, classified or military workloads relevant to weapons or intelligence services.”
Google and Amazon, among the largest employers of STEM graduates globally, are feeling the pressure from this growing campaign. The pledgers come from prestigious institutions such as Stanford, UC Berkeley, the University of San Francisco (USFCA), and San Francisco State University (SFSU) — all located in California, home to Google’s headquarters.
NOTA has previously organized protests against tech companies’ involvement with Israel, including sit-ins and office takeovers. These actions have sometimes led to severe repercussions, such as the firing of dozens of Google workers. In March, a NOTA organizer was dismissed from Google after interrupting an executive at an Israeli tech conference in New York, publicly declaring his refusal to “build technology that powers genocide or surveillance.”
As the campaign nears its signature goal, the movement underscores a broader trend of young professionals and students increasingly leveraging their future career choices to advocate for ethical practices in the tech industry. The outcome of this boycott could have lasting implications for corporate social responsibility and the ethical considerations of business partnerships in the tech sector.