HomeMicrosoft HQ Locks Down as Activists Occupy Brad Smith's Office
Activists stormed Microsoft's Redmond campus on Monday, reaching the office of President Brad Smith in Building 34 and prompting a temporary lockdown. The group "No Azure for Apartheid" live-streamed their sit-in on Twitch, displaying banners and chanting, "Brad Smith, you can’t hide; you’re supporting genocide!" They also posted a mock legal summons accusing Smith of "crimes against humanity."
TechCrunch has contacted Microsoft for additional details.
The Verge reports that the protest involved both current Microsoft employees and former staff who were previously dismissed for activism. Monday’s escalation follows months of demonstrations against Microsoft’s cloud computing agreements with Israel, including recent arrests at the company’s headquarters.
A Guardian investigation recently uncovered that Israel uses Microsoft's services to store data from millions of daily phone calls made by Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank.
This corporate office takeover echoes tactics used by Google employees over a year earlier. In April 2024, nine Google workers organized coordinated protests across offices in New York and California, with five occupying the office of Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian for nine hours. They wrote demands on his whiteboard and wore shirts reading "Googler against genocide."
The Google protests focused on Project Nimbus, a $1.2 billion contract with Amazon that supplies the Israeli government and military with cloud computing and artificial intelligence tools. Their sit-ins and arrests were similarly broadcast live on Twitch; three days later, 28 employees involved in the protests were terminated.
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Comments (1)
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![LarryHernández]()
Das ist schon ein starkes Zeichen der Aktivisten! Aber mal ehrlich, wenn selbst Microsoft-Gelände so leicht 'stürmt' werden kann, wirft das Fragen zur physischen Sicherheit bei Großkonzernen auf. Live auf Twitch streamen – clever für die Aufmerksamkeit, aber ob das die Botschaft verharmlost? 🤔 Ich bin gespannt, wie sie das intern aufarbeiten.
Activists stormed Microsoft's Redmond campus on Monday, reaching the office of President Brad Smith in Building 34 and prompting a temporary lockdown. The group "No Azure for Apartheid" live-streamed their sit-in on Twitch, displaying banners and chanting, "Brad Smith, you can’t hide; you’re supporting genocide!" They also posted a mock legal summons accusing Smith of "crimes against humanity."
TechCrunch has contacted Microsoft for additional details.
The Verge reports that the protest involved both current Microsoft employees and former staff who were previously dismissed for activism. Monday’s escalation follows months of demonstrations against Microsoft’s cloud computing agreements with Israel, including recent arrests at the company’s headquarters.
A Guardian investigation recently uncovered that Israel uses Microsoft's services to store data from millions of daily phone calls made by Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank.
This corporate office takeover echoes tactics used by Google employees over a year earlier. In April 2024, nine Google workers organized coordinated protests across offices in New York and California, with five occupying the office of Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian for nine hours. They wrote demands on his whiteboard and wore shirts reading "Googler against genocide."
The Google protests focused on Project Nimbus, a $1.2 billion contract with Amazon that supplies the Israeli government and military with cloud computing and artificial intelligence tools. Their sit-ins and arrests were similarly broadcast live on Twitch; three days later, 28 employees involved in the protests were terminated.
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Das ist schon ein starkes Zeichen der Aktivisten! Aber mal ehrlich, wenn selbst Microsoft-Gelände so leicht 'stürmt' werden kann, wirft das Fragen zur physischen Sicherheit bei Großkonzernen auf. Live auf Twitch streamen – clever für die Aufmerksamkeit, aber ob das die Botschaft verharmlost? 🤔 Ich bin gespannt, wie sie das intern aufarbeiten.
