Microsoft Faces Employee Protests Over Email Censorship, Satya Nadella-Led Company Explains Rationale

Amid mounting employee protests over its contracts with the Israeli government, Microsoft Corporation MSFT is reportedly blocking internal and external emails.

What Happened: According to the employee-led protest group No Azure for Apartheid (NOAA), dozens of Microsoft workers discovered that emails containing the terms "Palestine," "Gaza" or "Genocide" in subject lines or message bodies were temporarily blocked from being sent, reported The Verge.

In a statement, NOAA organizers said that words like ‘Israel' or even altered spellings like ‘P4lestine' do not trigger such a block.

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Microsoft confirmed to the publication that it had implemented email restrictions, citing concerns over politically charged mass messaging.

"Emailing large numbers of employees about any topic not related to work is not appropriate. We have an established forum for employees who have opted in to political issues," Microsoft spokesperson Frank Shaw told the outlet.

Why It's Important: The censorship comes during a week of high-profile disruptions at Microsoft's Build developer conference.

On Monday, employee Joe Lopez interrupted CEO Satya Nadella's keynote, accusing the company of supporting "Israeli war crimes powered by Azure." Lopez was fired later that day after sending a mass email about Microsoft's ties to Israel, the report said.

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Other protests followed throughout the week, including disruptions from a Palestinian tech worker and two former employees.

Last month also a Microsoft employee disrupted the company’s 50th-anniversary event, accusing the tech giant of being a “war profiteer” and complicit in war crimes. 

Microsoft has acknowledged contracts with the Israeli government but said reviews found "no evidence" of its tools being used to harm people in Gaza, the report added.

Price Action: Microsoft's stock fell by 1.22% on Wednesday and slipped another 0.060% in after-hours trading, according to Benzinga Pro data.

Benzinga Edge Stock Rankings assigns MSFT a growth score of 52.03%. Curious how it stacks up against other stocks? Click here for the full analysis.

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Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.