The protest was part of a larger campaign by a group called "No Azure for Apartheid," which includes current and former Microsoft workers.

Microsoft has dismissed an employee who publicly protested the company’s ties to the Israeli military during CEO Satya Nadella’s keynote speech at the annual Build developer conference in Seattle. Joe Lopez,

Employees discovered that emails with a variety of terms related to Gaza and Palestine have been blocked internally.

On day three of the Build 2025 event in Seattle, the company was forced to pause an AI security session as former employees Vaniya Agrawal and Hossam Nasr confronted executives on stage.The disruption came during a high-profile presentation led by Neta Haiby,

Microsoft employees have realised that emails sent within or from the company account that contain words like “Gaza” and “Palestine” have been blocked after a series of proteststors interrupted the company’s flagship Build event on Tuesday.

When workers send emails including words related to Israel’s war on Gaza, messages are delayed by hours or never arrive at all.

During a Microsoft-focused event held by tech publication GeekWire in March, No Azure for Apartheid stationed protesters outside the event venue, Town Hall Seattle. Protesters projected phrases like “Microsoft Powers Genocide” on the building’s exterior and wrote other phrases like “Drop Israel Not Bombs” in chalk.

Microsoft’s head of security for AI, Neta Haiby, accidentally revealed confidential messages about Walmart’s use of Microsoft’s AI tools during a Build talk that was disrupted by protesters.

Microsoft says it found no evidence its Azure and AI tech was used to harm civilians in Gaza, amid protests and internal employee backlash.