Microsoft has fired a software engineer who interrupted CEO Satya Nadella’s speech at the company’s annual Build developer conference in Seattle, citing the employee’s protest against the company’s work supplying technology to the Israeli military.
Joe Lopez, a software engineer, was heard shouting at Nadella during the event before being escorted out. Lopez had earlier sent a mass email to colleagues disputing Microsoft’s claims about how its Azure cloud computing platform is used in Gaza.
This incident is not the first of its kind for Microsoft, which has previously fired employees who protested company events over its work in Israel. The company acknowledged last week that it provided AI services to the Israeli military for the war in Gaza but denied using its technology to target or harm people.
An advocacy group, No Azure for Apartheid, claims Lopez received a termination letter but couldn’t open it due to the company’s block on internal emails mentioning certain keywords. The incident highlights ongoing tensions between Microsoft and its employees over the company’s involvement with the Israeli military.
Source: https://apnews.com/article/microsoft-build-israel-gaza-protest-worker-fired-a395ac137b74002886b2ad727b5ae5c2