I don’t work at Google, I’m at a different big tech that’s in the news frequently. Sharing inside info on an ongoing incident is a great way to get fired. Big tech companies are way different than startups where everyone can do a bit of anything. There are people whose job it is to handle that communication. You make their job a lot harder if you disclose information. The company is so big that as an engineer you may not know all the factors involved in what would hurt the company long term - undisclosed relevant litigation, compliance commitments, partner obligations, etc.
How much do you hate it as an engineer when sales people make tech promises to customers without asking you? For comms people, engineers leaking info publicly feels the same way.
I am very pleased to see this response, genuinely. Our Technical Curiosity aside, there are literally people and teams in such big firms dedicated for this.
What you're saying makes sense but I don't think it really applies to anything the OP said. The "non-confidential" qualifier indicates to me that they only want people to share what they can responsibly.
And the parent post’s point is that there are people whose job it is to specifically share that information, and so we should let them do their job. They are the domain expert in this particular task.
How much do you hate it as an engineer when sales people make tech promises to customers without asking you? For comms people, engineers leaking info publicly feels the same way.