Sure thing mate. I'm not contesting on what available avenues are available for Googlers, perhaps you know more than I do. Just stating the factual observations, repeated cases of an individual employees getting fired for raising concerns. You briefly describe your anecdote, I'm describing my anecdote. I'm neutral on Google for most things, I use their products and I don't really care about their privacy issues.
No need to cherry pick my previous reply, I'll restate since some parts must have flew by :). Higher ups are very accessible to each individual employee because you really can just go up to them. Back then, the CVP always swung by our office to say hi pretty frequently. The message boards exist. And people group up for QnA because it's effective. Employees pranked their bosses without retaliation.
I don't even have a reason to justify leadership anymore. Just stating the clear facts, that the majority trust them to the right thing. Beats me why C-level is popular internally. They respond to employee concerns when it mattered, and stood their ground when it didn't. No need to make assumptions here about people being meek, lets use facts.