Microsoft fires employee for interrupting CEO’s speech to protest AI tech for IDF

By AP 23 May 2025, 5:46 am 1 Edit

FILE - Microsoft Chairman and CEO Satya Nadella speaks during a presentation of the company's AI assistant, Copilot, and 50th Anniversary celebration at Microsoft headquarters, in Redmond, Washington, April 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Jason Redmond, File)

SEATTLE — Microsoft has fired an employee who interrupted a speech by CEO Satya Nadella to protest the company’s work supplying the Israeli military with technology used for the war in Gaza.

Software engineer Joe Lopez could be heard shouting at Nadella in the opening minutes Monday of the tech giant’s annual Build developer conference in Seattle before getting escorted out of the room. Lopez later sent a mass email to colleagues disputing the company’s claims about how its Azure cloud computing platform is used in Gaza.

Lopez’s outburst was the first of several pro-Palestinian disruptions at the event that drew thousands of software developers to the Seattle Convention Center. At least three talks by executives were disrupted, the company even briefly cut the audio of one livestreamed event. Protesters also gathered outside the venue.

Microsoft has previously fired employees who protested company events over its work in Israel, including at its 50th anniversary party in April.