Microsoft Headquarters Locked Down as Protesters Storm Brad Smith's Office

Microsoft’s Redmond headquarters went into lockdown after a group called “No Azure for Apartheid” barged into President Brad Smith’s office in Building 34. The protesters, which included current Microsoft employees and some who’d been fired for past activism, livestreamed their sit-in on Twitch. They held up banners, chanted, “Brad Smith, you can’t hide, you’re supporting genocide!” and posted a fake legal notice accusing Smith of “crimes against humanity.”

The group was protesting Microsoft’s cloud contracts with Israel, specifically its Azure platform. A recent report revealed 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 wasn’t the first protest—tensions have been building for months, with earlier demonstrations leading to arrests at Microsoft’s campus. TechCrunch reached out to Microsoft for a statement, but the company hasn’t responded yet.

• Microsoft Headquarters on Lockdown as Protesters Target Brad Smith Over Israel Cloud Contracts
• ‘No Azure for Apartheid’ Activists Storm Microsoft Office, Echoing Google Worker Protests
• Tech Worker Protests Intensify: Microsoft Employees Challenge Ethical Impact of Azure Deals

This dramatic scene feels familiar. Back in April 2024, nine Google employees staged similar protests in New York and California offices over Project Nimbus, a $1.2 billion deal with Amazon to provide Israel’s government and military with cloud and AI tools. Five of those protesters took over Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian’s office for nine hours, writing demands on his whiteboard and wearing “Googler against genocide” shirts. They livestreamed it all on Twitch, too. Three days later, Google fired 28 employees involved.

The Microsoft protesters’ takeover shows how fed up some tech workers are with their companies’ ties to controversial government deals. The “No Azure for Apartheid” group, made up of both current staff and former employees let go for activism, is clearly stepping up its efforts. This incident is part of a bigger wave of tech workers speaking out, demanding their employers take a stand on global issues.

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For now, it’s unclear how the lockdown affected Microsoft’s operations or what the company will do next. The protest shines a spotlight on the growing clash between tech giants and their employees over the ethics of international contracts.