Worker Disrupts Microsoft 50th Anniversay Event With Bill Gates, Steve Ballmer, And Satya Nadella Present, Calls Tech Giant 'War Profiteer'

On Friday, a Microsoft Corporation MSFT employee disrupted the company's 50th-anniversary event, accusing the tech giant of complicity in war crimes. Microsoft’s former CEOs Bill Gates, Steve Ballmer, and current CEO Satya Nadella attended the event.

What Happened: During the event, Ibtihal Aboussad, a Microsoft employee, interrupted Microsoft's AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman's speech, shouting, "You are a war profiteer. Stop using AI for genocide. You have blood on your hands. All of Microsoft has blood on its hands."

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This is the moment a protester interrupted Microsoft's live Copilot AI event. pic.twitter.com/QB7TxFCbqu

— Zac Bowden (@zacbowden) April 4, 2025

Aboussad, a software engineer with Microsoft's AI Platform org, followed the outburst with an email to Microsoft employees, explaining her actions, reported The Verge.

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 “I spoke up today because after learning that my org was powering the genocide of my people in Palestine, I saw no other moral choice,” Aboussad wrote, condemning the company's alleged involvement in AI technology used by the Israeli military.

Microsoft did not immediately respond to Benzinga's request for comments.

Price Action: Microsoft’s stock dropped 3.56% on Friday. In the after-hours session, the stock declined an additional 0.025%, according to Benzinga Pro data.

Benzinga Edge Stock Rankings gives MSFT a growth score of 64.59%. Want to see how it compares to 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.

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