Google limits employees' discussion of politics

Aug. 23 (UPI) -- Google has updated its guidelines to restrict employees from engaging in political debate or discussing internal company activity in the workplace.

The Mountain View, Calif.,-based company notified its employees of the new rules Thursday.

"While sharing information and ideas with colleagues helps build community, disrupting the workday to have a raging debate over politics or the latest news story does not," the guidelines say. "Our primary responsibility is to do the work we've each been hired to do, not to spend working time on debates about non-work topics.

"Don't troll, name call, or engage in ad hominem attacks. Be respectful in your comments about [and to] your fellow Googlers."

In addition to limiting speech in the workplace, the new Google guidelines also encourage employees not to discuss the topics through email lists and forums.

The new guidelines come after months of accusations from President Donald Trump saying Google shows bias in its story selection in search results.

In August 2018, Trump tweeted that Google is "controlling what we can & cannot see" on the Internet.