Microsoft Sought FBI Help To Track Palestinian Protests: Report

Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) reportedly sought help from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to track Palestinian simmering across its Redmond campus over the past year.

According to a Bloomberg report, Microsoft also reached out to local law enforcement agencies to track and prevent these protests, while flagging internal emails comprising the word “Gaza.”

Microsoft’s shares edged lower by 0.04% during Tuesday’s pre-market trade. Retail sentiment on Stocktwits around the company was in the ‘bearish’ territory.

The report added that Microsoft also deleted some internal posts referring to these protests, while suspending and firing some of the protestors for disrupting its events. The software giant said it expects customers to adhere to international law around human rights and armed conflict, according to the report.

“If we determine that a customer—any customer—is using our technology in ways that violate our terms of service, we will take steps to address that,” Microsoft President Brad Smith said in an interview, adding that while employees were allowed to discuss it internally, the company would not tolerate them disrupting its operations or staff, according to the report.

This comes after a Microsoft employee interrupted CEO Satya Nadella’s keynote speech at the annual Build developers conference in May.

According to a CNBC report, the employee, Joe Lopez, said, “Satya, how about you show them how Microsoft is killing Palestinians? How about you show them how Israeli war crimes are powered by Azure?” The report added that Lopez was fired later.

MSFT stock is up 20% year-to-date and 21% over the past 12 months.

Also See: Dow Futures Decline As Investors Exercise Caution Amid Trump’s Move To Oust Fed’s Lisa Cook: IBKR, TLN, PLTR, OKTA Among Stocks To Watch

For updates and corrections, email newsroom[at]stocktwits[dot]com.