• News
  • Technology News
  • Tech News
  • Indian-American software engineer Vaniya Agrawal who 'shamed' Microsoft CEOs at company's 50th anniversary celebrations, disrupts Microsoft event again

Indian-American software engineer Vaniya Agrawal who 'shamed' Microsoft CEOs at company's 50th anniversary celebrations, disrupts Microsoft event again

Indian-American engineer Vaniya Agrawal, previously known for disrupting Microsoft's 50th anniversary, recently protested at the Build 2025 developer event. Agrawal, along with ex-Microsoft employee Hossam Nasr, confronted Microsoft's AI security head, Neta Haiby, over the company's contracts with Israel.
Indian-American software engineer Vaniya Agrawal who 'shamed' Microsoft CEOs at company's 50th anniversary celebrations, disrupts Microsoft event again
File Photo: Microsoft engineer Vaniya Agrawal was removed from a company event after causing a disruption.
The Indian-American engineer Vaniya Agrawal who disrupted Microsoft's 50th anniversary celebrations in April this year again created disorder at another high-profile Microsoft event. In the latest incident, she disrupted Microsoft's ongoing developer event, Build 2025. Microsoft Build is the company’s annual developers conference. Vaniya Agrawal, along with another fired Microsoft employee Hossam Nasr, shouted at Microsoft’s head of security for AI, Neta Haiby.Haiby was co-hosting a Build session on best security practices for AI, alongside Sarah Bird, Microsoft’s head of responsible AI, when these two former Microsoft employees disrupted the talk to protest against the company’s cloud contracts with the Israeli government. This is the third day in a row that the Microsoft Build 2025 conference has been disrupted by Pro-Palestine protests. On Monday (May 19), shortly after Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella took the stage for his keynote address at the Build 2025 conference, an employee interrupted the speech. The employee started shouting “Free Palestine” and demanded accountability from the CEO for the company’s work with the Israeli government.
Poll
Should companies take a stand on political issues?
Next day, on May 20, a Palestinian tech worker interrupted Microsoft executive Jay Parikh's keynote presentation, marking the second consecutive day of pro-Palestine protests at the event. "Jay! My people are suffering!" the protester shouted at Parikh, Microsoft's Executive Vice President of CoreAI, during his presentation on Azure AI technology. "Cut ties! No Azure for apartheid! Free, free Palestine!" Security personnel quickly escorted the demonstrator from the venue as he continued calling for Microsoft to end its contracts with the Israeli government.

When Vaniya Agrawal ‘shamed’ Microsoft CEOs

Earlier this year, Agrawal disrupted Microsoft’s 50th anniversary celebrations. As Microsoft current CEO Satya Nadella; and former CEOs Steve Ballmer and co-founder Bill Gates sat on stage talking about the company, Vaniya Agrawal stood up and started shouting. “Shame on you all. You’re all hypocrites,” she said. “50,000 Palestinians in Gaza have been murdered with Microsoft technology. How dare you. Shame on all of you for celebrating in their blood. Cut ties with Israel.” Vaniya was escorted out by the security.

Microsoft blocks emails that contain ‘Palestine’ after employee protests

Microsoft has reportedly Blocked emails with certain words. According to a report in The Verge, "Microsoft employees have discovered that any emails they send with the terms “Palestine” or “Gaza” are getting temporarily blocked from being sent to recipients inside and outside the company."

Who is Vaniya Agrawal

A software engineer in the company’s artificial intelligence division, Vaniya Agrawal publicly shared her resignation email last month. She sent the email to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and thousands of Microsoft employees following her protest at the company's 50th anniversary celebration on April 4. In the company-wide email, she wrote that she has been working with the company for over one-and-a-half years.

Microsoft fired Vaniya Agrawal

Agrawal was fired shortly after the event. She was asked to go with immediate effect, without completing her two-week notice. The other protester, Ibtihal Aboussad, too was terminated for "acts of misconduct" following similar disruptions at the Microsoft Anniversary event.

Vaniya Agrawal has been sharing photos of protests at Microsoft Build

Vaniya Agrawal has been constantly sharing photos of protests around Microsoft Build 2025 venues. She has shared a number of posts on the same on X.
author
About the Author
TOI Tech Desk

The TOI Tech Desk is a dedicated team of journalists committed to delivering the latest and most relevant news from the world of technology to readers of The Times of India. TOI Tech Desk’s news coverage spans a wide spectrum across gadget launches, gadget reviews, trends, in-depth analysis, exclusive reports and breaking stories that impact technology and the digital universe. Be it how-tos or the latest happenings in AI, cybersecurity, personal gadgets, platforms like WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook and more; TOI Tech Desk brings the news with accuracy and authenticity.

End of Article
Follow Us On Social Media