New Delhi: Indian-American software programmer Vaniya Agrawal made news after she disrupted Microsoft’s 50th anniversary celebration on March 4, 2025, at their headquarters in Redmond, Washington. During the live Q&A session with present CEO Satya Nadella and past CEOs Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer, Agrawal stood up and blamed Microsoft for involvement in human rights abuses using its technology. Her demonstration was one part of a wider pro-Palestinian campaign denouncing Microsoft’s purported involvement in funding Israel’s military efforts.
What happened at the event
Agrawal interrupted the panel session by yelling at the company’s highest executives. “Shame on you all. You’re all hypocrites,” she declared. She blamed Microsoft for assisting in the killings of Palestinians in Gaza by stating, “Fifty thousand Palestinians in Gaza have been murdered with Microsoft technology. Cut ties with Israel.”
While some members of the audience booed, Agrawal continued until security removed her.
Earlier in the day, another Microsoft worker, Ibtihal Aboussad, disrupted AI head Mustafa Suleyman. She criticized the company for collaborating with the Israeli government and accused Suleyman of endorsing the use of AI weapons by Israel’s military.
Following her protest, Agrawal quit her job by sending an email to the whole company stating that she was resigning, initially scheduling her last day to be April 11. In the email, she told her employers that she could no longer work for a business she felt was engaged in “violent injustice.” She blamed Microsoft Azure and its artificial intelligence tools for assisting in the support of genocide and referred to the company as a “digital weapons manufacturer.”
But Microsoft reacted by immediately accepting her resignation, shutting off her access to company accounts. Aboussad also got terminated for what Microsoft termed as “acts of misconduct.”
Who is Vaniya Agrawal?
Agrawal graduated from Arizona State University with top honors between 2016 and 2019 with a Bachelor’s degree in software engineering. At ASU, she was one of only 35 students who received the elite Grace Hopper Scholarship, allowing her to attend the 2017 Grace Hopper Conference, prior to becoming a software developer, Agrawal worked various jobs such as social media manager and tea consultant at Adagio Teas in 2015, and as a medical assistant and receptionist at True Health Medical Centre from 2016 to 2017, she was part of a group at Microsoft called “No Azure for Apartheid,” which is protesting Microsoft’s $133 million deal with Israel’s Ministry of Defense, the organization says that Microsoft technology is used for mass surveillance and attacks in Gaza.
Footage of Agrawal’s protest went viral within hours, being picked up by activists and fuelling debate. Some praised her courage for having spoken out, while others felt she was being too disruptive. The panel that she disrupted carried on without referring to what she had said.
Microsoft has so far made no public comment regarding the protest or the terminations, aside from confirming the action internally.
