Microsoft fires employee for Gaza protest during Satya Nadella’s keynote, third dismissal in two months

Microsoft

Microsoft has fired a third employee over internal protests against the company’s involvement with the Israeli military. Joe Lopez, an Azure engineer, was terminated after he interrupted CEO Satya Nadella’s keynote speech at the company’s annual Build developer conference in Seattle, according to a report by Associated Press.

“Satya, how about you show how Microsoft is killing Palestinians?” Lopez shouted, referring to the company’s provision of AI and cloud services to the Israeli military. He was quickly removed from the venue, as per the report.

Following the disruption, Lopez emailed Microsoft’s staff, explaining that his protest was aimed at exposing what he described as the company’s complicity in war crimes.

The internal activist group No Azure for Apartheid, composed of current and former Microsoft employees, confirmed Lopez’s dismissal and claimed he was unable to access his termination letter. The group also alleged that Microsoft has started censoring internal communication, blocking emails containing terms such as “Palestine” and “Gaza.”

The tech giant has not officially responded to media queries about the incident or the broader employee backlash. However, in a previous statement last week, Microsoft acknowledged providing AI services to the Israeli military. It maintained there is “no evidence” that its technologies were used to directly harm civilians in Gaza.

Lopez’s firing follows the April termination of two other employees, Ibtihal Aboussad and Vaniya Agrawal, who interrupted a Microsoft AI event, calling AI chief Mustafa Suleyman a “war profiteer.”