I agree with you that a researcher should be aware of current work relevant to the problem under discussion. Jeff's quoted email states that part of the issue was that Timnit's paper "ignored too much relevant research", without specifically saying whether the unmentioned relevant research was done by Google.

But the parent comment to which I responded, and which I quoted, specifically said the problem was to criticize google while working for google, and seemed to approve that this should be judged unacceptable.

> I get the impression that she wrote a hit piece on Google and published with Google's name. For me, it's correct they demand a retraction.

The "regardless of who's doing the work" part is key, and not all participants in this conversation are on the same page about it.