Could be. Could be an owners/labor distinction too.
I've never talked to a bigco developer who felt like they'd have career problems expressing liberal political views. But I have several friends, and have talked to a lot of other people, who have shared concerns about expressing conservative views.
It's anecdata, but there's a lot of anecdotes to be found about it.
I've only worked here about 20 years in smaller companies but had plenty of coworkers who were pretty loud and proud libertarians or conservative Republicans, especially around Clinton's impeachment or election time, and guys were wearing their red MAGA caps into the office where I was contracting after the 2016 election.
I guess it depends somewhat on what sort of liberal views you talk about.
I'd be worried about expressing anti-data-collection, anti-large-company, pro-break-up-Google views if I were a Google employee. Biting the hand that feeds you and all... I haven't met many developers with that view, either - people are willing to talk about it on HN, but in person? I haven't found it.
Maybe the reason liberal views on diversity get all the attention is because they're the only ones that even seem within reach.
I've never talked to a bigco developer who felt like they'd have career problems expressing liberal political views. But I have several friends, and have talked to a lot of other people, who have shared concerns about expressing conservative views.
It's anecdata, but there's a lot of anecdotes to be found about it.