There was separate protests that the ethics council was inappropriately scoped and those on the council not fit to be there. The protests Meredith was on was regarding the letting go with generous severance packages of employees found to have been sexually harassing co workers, and the lack of resources within Google for those victims of sexual harassment/assault.
There was protest involving the AI ethics council, but it was due to the inclusion of a homophobic and transphobic person on the board, not of the council itself.
Retaliation or not, there would be some change. So any change, not sure I buy is/isn't retaliation.