The second sentence in the article says "The relationship violated Google’s policies which ban relationships between managers and their subordinates."
That seems like a sensible corporate policy for a number of reasons as just one example where there's a corporate interest.
it's their private life.
In the age of #MeToo, companies are getting called out for inconsistently handling these types of situations. No doubt Google would probably quickly terminate lower-level employees who transgressed in the same way.
What the heck? Hell no, it's not a 'sensible corporate policy'. It completely counteracts human nature. People will get into relationships. People who spend most of their time at work, will meet other people at work. A big faceless corp shouldn't dictate personal relationships.
A sensible policy would ask that the couple disclose their relationship to HR so provisions can be made so that others under the manager don't feel like the subordinate in the relationship is getting preferential treatment. You can do that and have policies for that. You can also move the manager or the subordinate to another team.
Why are we OK with these corporations meddling in the private lives of their ADULT employees? Why are there calls for more meddling by certain segments of activists?
This is the common solution, at which point there is no longer a relationship between a manager and a subordinate (so no need to change the policy).
The company doesn't want to be your relationship counselor. One of the more foolproof ways to make sure you don't bring that to work is that you don't start it at work.