People inside and outside of Microsoft have been agitating for the software giant to cut ties with the Israeli government. As the war and slaughter in Gaza drag on, activists have increasingly sought to expose and condemn the software giant. This week, it appears that the company had to temporarily lock down its headquarters, as protesting workers entered the office of company president Brad Smith to conduct a sit-in.
The protest efforts that took place on Tuesday were also streamed live on Twitch by the protesters, The Verge reports. The protesters entered Smith’s office with banners and noise-makers, shouting, “Brad Smith, you can’t hide, you’re supporting genocide!” A poster visible at the action read: “The People’s Court Summons Bradford Lee Smith on Charges of Crimes Against Humanity,” the outlet notes.
The cops got involved fairly quickly. The Seattle Times writes:
A uniformed member of Microsoft Global Security told a Seattle Times reporter that Building 34 was under lockdown around 2:45 p.m., and entry was prohibited. Law enforcement officers patrolled the area surrounding Building 34, blocking entrances and exits from traffic. Police had set up a command post in a nearby building, and a pair of Redmond Police Department officers mentioned that they were working overtime to respond to the event.
The protests came some ten days after the company launched an internal probe to determine whether there was any substance to claims made in a recent report published by The Guardian. That report has found that Unit 8200, Israel’s shadowy intelligence agency, has been using Microsoft’s Azure cloud servers for a massive surveillance program aimed at Palestinians. As part of a deal with Microsoft’s CEO, Satya Nadella, the spy unit had reportedly been granted access to a “customised and segregated area within Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform.” This cloud setup was used to build a “sweeping and intrusive system” designed to collect and store “recordings of millions of mobile phone calls made each day by Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank,” the report claimed.
The company previously told The Guardian: “Microsoft appreciates that the Guardian’s recent report raises additional and precise allegations that merit a full and urgent review.” When reached for comment by Gizmodo, Microsoft referred us to a previously live-streamed press conference held with Brad Smith. Among other things, Smith said that The Guardian’s reporting was “fair” and much of it “now needs to be tested.”
Activists have increasingly sought to disrupt the relationship between Big Tech and the Israeli government, with other efforts aimed at Microsoft peers like Amazon and Google. Protesting Microsoft workers have been fired, and last week, dozens of protesters occupied the company’s campus over a two-day period. Many of them were arrested.