"Microsoft Investors Prod Company Over Work With Israeli Military", July 11, 2025

A group of Microsoft Corp. investors is pressuring the company to assess how effectively it identifies customers who misuse its artificial intelligence tools, a push that follows reports detailing the Israeli military’s use of Microsoft software during its war in Gaza.

The shareholder resolution, which could be voted on at the company’s annual meeting in December, asks the board to commission a public report disclosing more on how Microsoft prevents its products from being used in ways that violate human rights or international humanitarian law.

Microsoft employees have been protesting software sales to the Israel Defense Forces and other government entities, contending the company’s AI services are enabling the killing of civilians in Israel’s war in Gaza. ...

In April, Microsoft fired two software engineers who protested sales to the Israeli military during an event celebrating the company’s 50th anniversary. Both employees were affiliated with No Azure for Apartheid, a Microsoft group dedicated to forcing their employer to ax the Israeli government as a customer.

The Associated Press, the Guardian and the Israeli news organization +972 Magazine have reported that the Israeli military and intelligence customers increased their use of Microsoft products such as the Azure cloud platform and AI models from OpenAI following the outbreak of the war. The military uses AI in part to search for patterns in data gathered through mass surveillance, work that helps identify candidates for future strikes, the AP reported.

“In the face of serious allegations of complicity in genocide and other international crimes, Microsoft’s HRDD processes appear ineffective,” the resolution says, referring to human rights due diligence.

Delivered to the company earlier this month, the proposal has about 60 cosigners, who collectively hold about $80 million in Microsoft shares, according to Ekō, an advocacy group that helped convene investors, and Investor Advocates for Social Justice. The resolution was brought by the Religious of the Sacred Heart of Mary, an organization of Catholic women.

Such shareholder votes are nonbinding, and they rarely gain majority support among investors, who tend to defer to company management. But the resolution is an indication of the ongoing pressure Microsoft faces over its sales to Israel and the company’s response to employees who have protested the matter. ...

“These companies are not just technology companies anymore,” said Rewan Al-Haddad, a senior campaign director with Ekō, which has pressured other big tech companies on social and governance issues. “They are weapons companies now.” Ekō was previously called SumOfUs.

Microsoft declined to comment on the shareholder proposal, pointing to a May statement that outlined an investigation it commissioned into the use of its technology by the Israel Ministry of Defense.

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The shareholder resolution says that disclosure provided insufficient detail and notes that Microsoft conceded it doesn’t know what customers do with its software on their own servers or other devices.