On Monday, this patriarchy-smashing band of protesters raided Microsoft’s Redmond HQ. Their disruptive actions resulted in a short lockdown of the campus, and at one point they even stormed into President Brad Smith’s office. The incident emphasizes the increasing controversy surrounding Microsoft’s cloud contracts with Israel. These contracts include deploying Microsoft’s cloud services to store and analyze data from the millions of calls—both phone and internet—placed daily by Palestinians living in Gaza and the West Bank.
The protest was called by a recently formed coalition, “No Azure for Apartheid.” It drew Microsoft’s current employees, as well as former employees who had been fired for their activism. As they entered Building 34, protesters chanted slogans such as, “Brad Smith, you can’t hide, you’re supporting genocide!” and displayed banners condemning the company’s actions.
This demonstration is just a small slice of a larger movement calling on Microsoft to stop fueling the ongoing war. The corporation’s cloud contracts with Israel, the protesters claim, enable the company to engage in what they call “crimes against humanity.”
Along those lines, backlash by the public poured into Google offices in New York and California in April 2024 with sit-in protests. At least nine Google employees participated in the coordinated walkouts. Five of them took over the office of Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian for nine hours. The activists live-streamed their actions on Twitch using the alias “Googler against genocide.” After the wave of protests, 28 union employees were fired in just three days.
Microsoft’s recent protests are part of a wave that consists of the uprising of tech workers now holding their employers to account on ethical issues. To be clear, this demonstration is an important milestone for Microsoft. It is finally a much needed step toward continued accountability of big tech.
“No Azure for Apartheid” – protesters
“Brad Smith, you can’t hide, you’re supporting genocide!” – protesters
“crimes against humanity” – protesters