A Microsoft employee disrupted a keynote speech by the company’s CEO with a protest against Israel’s actions in Palestine. Joe Lopez, a firmware engineer working on Azure, was escorted out of the Build conference after confronting Satya Nadella. Lopez sent an email to his colleagues explaining that he staged the protest because of Microsoft’s involvement in enabling Israeli surveillance and war crimes through its cloud-computing platform.
The protest comes after Microsoft was criticized for its role in supplying technology to Israel’s military, including the use of Azure by the Israeli air force’s Ofek Unit. Leaked documents show that Microsoft has a significant presence in Israel’s military infrastructure. A worker-led group called Noaa organized a separate protest outside the conference, citing the company’s complicity in human rights abuses.
Lopez’s demonstration is the second disruption at a Microsoft event in two months, following similar protests by other workers who were fired for their actions. The incident highlights tensions between activists and the tech industry over issues of ethics and morality.
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/may/19/microsoft-ceo-speech-palestinian-protest