Apple WWDC 2025: After Microsoft, Tim Cook-led tech giant's annual software event interrupted by protest; Watch video

Tech conferences faced disruptions recently. At Apple's event, a protester displayed a keffiyeh. This followed a similar incident at Microsoft's 50th anniversary. A former employee, Vaniya Agrawal, criticized Microsoft's alleged role in violence in Gaza. She accused the company of aiding violence through its technology. Agrawal resigned and condemned Microsoft's ties with Israel.
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Days after Microsoft, Apple saw interruption during its annual software developer conference on Monday by a protester who marched in and unzipped his jacket to reveal a keffiyeh.The protester spoke for about 30 seconds before security walked him out, reported The Verge.The incident comes after a former Microsoft employee ignited controversy during the company's 50th anniversary celebration, confronting top executives including CEO Satya Nadella and former heads Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer. The employee, Vaniya Agrawal, an Indian-American software engineer, accused the tech giant of aiding violence in Gaza through its technologies.'Fifty thousand Palestinians in Gaza have been murdered with Microsoft technology. How dare you. Shame on all of you for celebrating on their blood,' she declared before being escorted out of the event.Agrawal, who has since resigned from the company, described Microsoft as a 'digital weapons manufacturer' and condemned its alleged collaboration with the Israeli military. In a pointed critique, she called on Microsoft to end its ties with Israel, highlighting what she claimed was a $133 million agreement with Israel's Ministry of Defense involving AI and Azure tools.Previously, Microsoft terminated another software engineer who disrupted CEO Satya Nadella's keynote address at the company's Build 2025 developer conference. The engineer, Joe Lopez, interrupted the speech in protest of Microsoft's business relationship with the Israeli military during the ongoing conflict in Gaza.During the keynote at the Seattle Convention Center, Lopez shouted from the audience: 'Free Palestine. How about you show them how Microsoft is killing Palestinians? How about you show them how Israeli war crimes are powered by Azure?' Security personnel quickly removed him from the venue. As he was being escorted out, Lopez continued, 'As a Microsoft worker, I refuse to be complicit in this genocide.'

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