After Microsoft employees protested at the headquarters to protest the technology partnership with Israel, the police arrested them on charges of unauthorized entry.
What you should know
The police arrested 18 employees of the company who protested to stop the use of Microsoft technology in the ongoing war in Gaza. Along with this, the company has said that it will "immediately" review the use of Microsoft technology by the Israeli army in the ongoing war in Gaza.
About 35 employees of Microsoft protested for two consecutive days, demanding to break ties with Israel. CNN reports that Microsoft filed a police complaint against the employees for unauthorized entry after they became "aggressive" and refused to leave the headquarters on the third day.
According to the Redmond Police Department, protesters splashed red paint on the company's logo. They have been detained on various charges including 'unauthorized entry, malicious intent, resisting arrest and obstruction'.
The British media outlet, The Guardian, published news about the Israeli Defense Forces using Microsoft's Azure cloud computing platform for data storage, including call recordings from mass surveillance of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. The company said last week it had assigned a law firm to investigate the allegations.
Earlier last February, The Associated Press (AP) also published a report that Microsoft shared technology with the Israeli army. The AP reported that after the attack on Hamas on October 7, 2023, the artificial intelligence products used by the Israeli army increased by about 200 times.
According to the news, the Israeli military is using Azure to transcribe, translate and analyze data on Palestinian civilians. At the time Microsoft admitted about its military applications It claimed that Azure or any of its AI technologies were not used to target or harm Gaza residents.
On this topic, the company fired one of its employees for disrupting Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella's speech at an event last May.
