Intel is taking its fight against GamerGate even further
The company's diversity efforts are paying off and it plans to combat online harassment next.
The most important news from last year's CES was Intel's $300 million response to GamerGate, the caustic online movement that targeted women with vicious harassment. But talk is cheap, even with that high of a price-tag on it. How has the tech titan fared since that announcement? Some 43 percent of its new hires were women and underrepresented minorities since, CEO Brian Krzanich said near the end of the company's media briefing.
And more than that, the retention rate of these employees has parity with that of its non-diverse employees. "It's a truly remarkable improvement over last year," Krzanich said. He also revealed that Intel will release the full report of these statistics twice annually, with the first edition of the diversity and inclusion report coming on February 3rd.
The Intel CEO is taking the GamerGate response a step further than that, too. "We must remember that behind every device, every game, every connection and every tweet is a real person with real feelings, with needs for safety and inclusion," he said. To that end, on Thursday Intel is joining with Vox Media (The Verge, Polygon) and Recode, specifically, along with Lady Gaga's Born This Way foundation to create an industry-wide initiative to fight online harassment. Here's to hoping that can be as effective and swift as the company's diversity efforts.
