REDMOND, Wash. — A few hours after his office was infiltrated and occupied by a group protesting Microsoft’s technology contracts with Israel, the company’s president, Brad Smith, stood beside his desk addressing a hastily called press conference Tuesday afternoon.
Of the seven people involved in the occupation, two of them were current Microsoft employees, and one was a former Google employee, Smith said — seeking to underscore the company’s position that the group, No Azure for Apartheid, does not represent its workforce.
Smith said they blocked people from entering and planted crude listening devices in the form of cell phones hidden under furniture. After the protesters refused to leave when asked, he said, Redmond police had to physically remove them from the building. Police said the seven were arrested on charges including trespassing and obstruction.
The extraordinary turn of events followed two days of protests last week by the group, which is calling on Microsoft to cut ties with Israel, alleging that its cloud and AI tools are being used in human rights abuses against Palestinians in Gaza. Last Wednesday, 20 people were arrested after demonstrators occupied a plaza at the company’s East Campus and refused to disperse.
Smith said such actions are “not necessary in order to get us to pay attention.”
More importantly, he said that this type of activity “distracts from the real dialogue” that the company is having with employee groups of different backgrounds, faiths, and cultures inside Microsoft, including internal groups aligned with Israelis and Palestinians.
Smith said the company is committed to upholding its human rights principles. He reiterated that Microsoft is actively investigating a report from The Guardian alleging misuse of its Azure cloud platform by the Israeli military as part of the surveillance of Palestinians in Gaza.
The Guardian “did a fair job in its reporting,” Smith said, adding that after the paper contacted the company for the story, Microsoft was able to determine that some of the information was false, some was true, and “much of what they reported now needs to be tested.”
He also addressed a report Tuesday morning by Bloomberg News that Microsoft asked the FBI for help with the protests. Smith acknowledged that a member of Microsoft’s security staff sent an email to the local FBI office in April, saying it was to inquire whether the agency had any information about protests being planned in the Seattle area.
Addressing Microsoft’s relationship with the Israeli military, Smith said the “vast majority” of the company’s work for the Israeli Defense Force is to “protect the cybersecurity of the State of Israel.” He noted this work is often done in coordination with other countries in the region, such as the United Arab Emirates, to protect against cyber threats from Iran and Russia.
When asked if the two Microsoft employees arrested Tuesday would face internal discipline, Smith replied, “we’ll take a look,” and noted that some of them may have also been arrested last week. He called being arrested twice a situation that is “not standard employee conduct.”
Smith drew a distinction between what has been happening on the Microsoft campus over the past week and peaceful protests in public spaces. “People can go protest in public spaces, whether it’s at the Redmond Transit Center or in a kayak on a public lake outside my house,” he said.
That was a reference to protesters taking to Lake Washington in kayaks on Sunday, where they gathered in front of the waterside homes of Smith and Nadella, chanting and displaying large banners which read, “Microsoft Kills Kids” and “Satya + Brad = War Criminals.”
Asked how the protesters breached a secure area, Smith didn’t provide details but revealed that an employee reported that someone from No Azure for Apartheid had been contacting people Monday to try to get a copy of the floor plan in advance. It wasn’t clear when that employee report made it to Microsoft officials.
Smith said the company will “adapt our security accordingly.”
Smith concluded the press conference on a somber note, acknowledging the human toll of the Middle East conflict on both sides. He said Microsoft employees care deeply about the 1,139 people who died as a result of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack and the 251 hostages that were taken.
He added that the company also cares deeply about the 61,000 civilians who have died in Gaza since the attacks, including 17,000 children, and the hundreds of thousands facing severe risks of famine.
“We cannot do everything that we might wish to change the world, but we know our role,” he said. “We’re here to provide technology in a principled and ethical way.”
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