A Microsoft employee interrupted the CEO’s speech with a protest shortly before sending out an email to the entire workforce.
The worker disrupted a speech by the head of the company, Satya Nadella, during Microsoft’s annual developer conference on Monday (May 19).
The employee in question is Joe Lopez, who is a firmware engineer who worked on the firm’s cloud-computing platform, Azure.
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Speaking out during the conference, Lopez shouted: “Satya, how about you show how Microsoft is killing Palestinians.
“How about you show how Israeli war crimes are powered by Azure?”
Lopez was immediately escorted out of the venue but later sent an email to all staff explaining why he decided to protest.
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In the email, it read: “As one of the largest companies in the world, Microsoft has immeasurable power to do the right thing: demand an end to this senseless tragedy, or we will cease our technological support for Israel.
“If leadership continues to ignore this demand, I promise that it won’t go unnoticed. The world has already woken up to our complicity and is turning against us. The boycotts will increase and our image will continue to spiral into disrepair.”
Lopez went on to say: “Leadership rejects our claims that Azure technology is being used to target or harm civilians in Gaza. Those of us who have been paying attention know that this is a bold-faced lie.
“We don’t need an internal audit to know that a top Azure customer is committing crimes against humanity. We see it live on the internet every day.”
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Members of a worker-led group known as No Azure for Apartheid (Noaa) also set up a protest to coincide with the Microsoft event to protest against the tech giant having contracts with the Israeli army for over a year.
It has been found that Microsoft’s Azure cloud software has enabled the surveillance of Palestinians by the Israeli army.
It has also been used by the Ofek Unit, which is part of the Israeli air force.
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The unit manages potential target databases for airstrikes.
Anna Hattle, who is also a Microsoft employee and an organizer with Noaa, wrote an email to company leadership, saying: “One year ago, workers launched the No Azure for Apartheid campaign and petition in a state of urgency after 7 months of genocide.
“We are currently witnessing the same crimes committed 77 years ago with one key difference: now, the Israeli Occupation Forces are carrying out this genocide at a much greater scale thanks to Microsoft cloud and AI technology.”
UNILAD Tech has reached out to Microsoft for a comment.