It seems likely that both sides are mis-characterizing events in pursuit of their own goals -- which to me suggests a general environment where parties are tending not to communicate with the goal of arriving at agreement -- but rather as adversaries.
Hackernews will of course assume that the only reason for an adversarial relationship in this scenario is "cancel culture SJW memes" and other "deemed toxic" trends for which the minority voice is almost always the only guilty party.
I think that level of dismissal is unwarranted as it seems pretty likely to me that there is a definite gotcha-oriented communication style coming from the google leadership here -- which very well might reflect an intentionally or unconsciously adopted strategy to create obstacles for voices of disagreement like this.