Google Praises Executive’s Role in Egypt Revolt

Eric Schmidt, the chief executive of Google, said that the company was “very proud” of Wael Ghonim, a Google executive who helped plan the protests that culminated in the resignation of President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt.

Many Egyptians now consider Ghonim as one of the unofficial leaders of the anti-Mubarak movement, which rallied protesters by using Facebook and other Internet tools. Google said little about Ghonim while he was detained by security services for 12 days during the protests. In an interview with CBS News after his release last week, he said he had not discussed his participation in the protests with Google in advance and would be honored to return to the company “if I'm not fired.” That prompted a message from the company’s main Twitter account that read: “We’re incredibly proud of you, @Ghonim, & of course will welcome you back when you’re ready.” Schmidt said he had talked to Ghonim and “we’re very, very proud of what he’s done.” He said collaboration tools like Facebook “change the power dynamic between governments and citizens in some very interesting and unpredictable ways.”