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First Google, Now Microsoft: Tech Staff Are in Revolt Over Gaza

Employee activism has put some tech workers at odds with their bosses and tested internal policies at Microsoft and Google

A demonstrator holding a Palestinian flag near tents during a protest at Microsoft’s campus in Redmond, Wash., this month. PHOTO: DAVID RYDER/BLOOMBERG NEWS

A demonstrator holding a Palestinian flag near tents during a protest at Microsoft’s campus in Redmond, Wash., this month. PHOTO: DAVID RYDER/BLOOMBERG NEWS

When a group of employees raised a Palestinian flag outside Microsoft’sMSFT 0.94%increase; green up pointing triangle headquarters and occupied a top executive’s office, it marked an escalation of unrest brewing inside Silicon Valley’s biggest companies over their work with the Israeli military. 

While tech giants have long given employees latitude to engage in political speech at work, the latest wave of activism over the war in Gaza has put some workers at odds with their employers. On Wednesday Microsoft said it had fired two employees that were part of the group that stormed its offices this week. Last year Google fired dozens of workers after they staged similar sit-ins.

For months, employee discourse about Gaza has tested workplace policies at Microsoft and Alphabet GOOGL 0.16%increase; green up pointing triangle unit Google. Content moderators of internal message boards have repeatedly deleted comments about the conflict, according to current and former employees and internal correspondence viewed by The Wall Street Journal.

Microsoft’s moderators have deleted questions and conversation threads related to the war in Gaza and the company’s work with Israel, screenshots viewed by the Journal show. On a Microsoft-wide message board, one employee wrote about the impact of food shortages and attacks on people in Gaza. “How much more must we endure before we say ‘enough?’” the person wrote. 

A content moderator replied with a reminder to follow community guidelines outlining the company’s rules for respectful conversation. “We are now closing this thread for comments,” the moderator wrote.

On Tuesday, after his office was breached, Microsoft President Brad Smith said the company is reviewing claims that its technologies had been used to target people in Gaza. The company earlier looked into claims its software was being used to harm people but said it found no evidence.

Smith also called the actions of protesters “not standard employee conduct” and said that the company is examining the actions of employee organizers, as well as reviewing its building security protocols. The two now-fired software engineers were arrested by police, along with a former Google employee and four former Microsoft staffers.

Abdo Mohamed, a former Microsoft employee who has helped to organize the protests, said he observed numerous instances last year of content moderators intervening when employees asked questions of executives about the company’s work in Israel. “Microsoft really did its best to use the tools at its hands to dismiss any concerns that were brought up,” he said. 

Microsoft said it takes action when content violates company policies and guidelines, and that it creates designated forums for potentially controversial conversations. “We have a responsibility and commitment to creating an inclusive and safe digital workplace,” it said. 

Internal political debate is a complicated matter for companies, especially in industries such as tech where employees have a history of activism and engagement. But some companies have gained more leverage over employee exchanges in a shifting labor market, particularly those related to controversial matters.

At Google, employees have protested military-related contracts and in 2018 convinced the company to quit partnering with the U.S. Defense Department to develop artificial intelligence to identify potential drone targets. Since then, the company has taken steps to curb debates about politics and other controversial matters, in part by appointing employees to moderate conversations.

Google last April fired 28 employees who protested the company’s $1.2 billion contract with the Israeli government, and then fired another 20 people a few days later. Google and Amazon together signed the contract in 2021.

Protester at Microsoft headquarters using a megaphone and holding a sign with photos of victims of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
A demonstrator using a megaphone during a protest at the Microsoft campus in Redmond, Wash., this month. PHOTO: DAVID RYDER/BLOOMBERG NEWS


Police in New York and California had arrested some of the Google employees following sit-in protests at its offices. Google said the employees who were fired disrupted workspaces and made other employees feel unsafe. 

While discussing the war in Gaza and Google’s cloud-computing contract with the Israeli government, Google employees who refer to genocide in emails and chat boards have had their conversation threads locked or deleted, according to screenshots viewed by the Journal. Some received messages from content moderators explaining why.

Google said it was routine practice for its content moderation team to remove posts that violate company policies on disruptive content, which includes a range of topics in addition to genocide.

“We’ve been clear that our workplace isn’t somewhere to debate politics or have disruptive discussions—on any divisive topic,” said spokeswoman Courtenay Mencini. “We’ve consistently reminded our employees of this and regularly take steps to enforce the rare instances where employees violate our policies.” 

Moderators informed a former Google employee who made a document explaining her feelings about the conflict in Gaza that included links to news coverage of the company’s contract that they felt it was too disruptive for the workplace. Moderators have also removed discussions about topics such as the use of surveillance technology during the conflict.

 

Counter-protester with Israeli flag at Google protest.
A counterprotester holding an Israeli flag near a protest at Google’s offices in Sunnyvale, Calif., last year. PHOTO: NATHAN FRANDINO/REUTERS


Many of the moderation instances center on use of the word “genocide.” How and when to use the term has remained a subject of fierce debate, and its application to conflicts in Armenia, Rwanda and elsewhere have been controversial.

The current war in Gaza was triggered by the October 2023 attack on Israel by Palestinian Islamist militant group Hamas, which killed about 1,200 people, mostly Israeli citizens. More than 60,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza by Israel since the onset of the war, Gaza’s Health Ministry has said.  

When a Google employee wrote “genocide” in a chat last month, co-founder Sergey Brin intervened with a sharp warning, according to screenshots viewed by the Journal. The interaction was earlier reported by the Washington Post.

The conversation touched on a recent report from a United Nations Special Rapporteur that said work by a range of corporations, including Google, were sustaining Israel’s war against Hamas, which it called a “genocidal campaign.”

“The only bright spot here is that we’re spending all of our time and money on Gemini and not something more useful for genocide,” the employee wrote, referring to Google’s AI model and chatbot.

Brin responded: “With all due respect, throwing around the term genocide is deeply offensive to many people who have suffered actual genocides. I would also be careful citing transparently antisemitic organizations like the UN in relation to these issues.”

Write to Katherine Blunt at katherine.blunt@wsj.com and Sebastian Herrera at sebastian.herrera@wsj.com

 

Author: Katherine Blunt Follow and Sebastian Herrera

Source: WSJ:

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