Microsoft’s grand 50th anniversary celebration held on March 4, 2025, took an unexpected turn when Vaniya Agrawal, an Indian-American software engineer working in the company’s AI division, disrupted the event with a powerful protest.
The dramatic moment unfolded as Microsoft’s current CEO Satya Nadella appeared onstage alongside former CEOs Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer. Agrawal confronted the tech leaders, accusing the company of being complicit in human rights violations due to its ties with Israel.
“Shame on you all. You’re all hypocrites,” shouted Agrawal, before being escorted out of the venue. Despite being booed by some attendees, she continued her protest with emotional conviction.
“Fifty thousand Palestinians in Gaza have been murdered with Microsoft technology. How dare you. Shame on all of you for celebrating on their blood. Cut ties with Israel,” she added, calling attention to what she alleged were unethical partnerships.
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The protest was caught on video and widely circulated across social media, sparking intense debate online. Footage shows Nadella, Gates, and Ballmer remaining silent as Agrawal was escorted out of the venue, with none of them addressing her claims during the rest of their discussion.
According to The Verge, Agrawal followed up the public protest with an internal mass email to her colleagues at Microsoft. In it, she announced her resignation and expressed her deep discomfort with the company’s business operations.
“You may have seen me stand up earlier today to call out Satya during his speech at the Microsoft 50th anniversary,” she wrote. “I could not, in good conscience, continue working for a company whose technology enables genocide by Israel.”
Agrawal cited a report by the Associated Press that revealed Microsoft’s involvement in a $133 million contract with Israel’s Ministry of Defense. She said this partnership was proof of the company’s active role in the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
“Recent reports by the AP have exposed Microsoft’s critical role in enabling Israel’s apartheid regime and the genocide of Palestinians in Gaza,” she wrote. “The article details ‘a $133 million contract between Microsoft and Israel’s Ministry of Defense,’ highlighting how Microsoft Azure and AI fuel the occupation’s mass state surveillance and contribute to indiscriminate targeting and bombing of an entire indigenous Palestinian people.”
Her resignation is effective April 11, 2025.
This was one of two pro-Palestinian protests that interrupted the 50th anniversary celebrations. Earlier in the event, Ibtihal Aboussad, another Microsoft employee, had interrupted Mustafa Suleyman while he was delivering a speech. These protests spotlight growing dissent among tech employees over how their work is used in global conflicts and raise questions about corporate ethics in the age of AI and mass surveillance.
Agrawal’s act of defiance is now resonating beyond Microsoft’s walls, with many hailing her as a whistleblower standing up for what she believes is right.
