Microsoft is giving its more than 200,000 employees a formal way to raise ethical or human rights concerns about how the company’s technology is used, following weeks of internal unrest tied to its work in the Middle East.
In a memo disclosed in a securities filing on Wednesday, Microsoft President Brad Smith said the company has added a new feature to its internal portal that allows employees to request a “Trusted Technology Review.” The process enables workers to flag potential issues or misgivings about Microsoft’s products, partnerships, or technology deployments.
“Our standard non-retaliation policy applies, and you can raise concerns anonymously,” Smith wrote, emphasizing protections for employees who choose to come forward.
The move comes after controversy erupted over reports that Israel’s Defense Forces Unit 8200 had used Microsoft’s Azure cloud services to develop a system for tracking Palestinians’ phone calls amid the country’s invasion of Gaza, as reported by The Guardian in August. Microsoft subsequently began investigating the claims and later halted some services provided to an Israeli defense unit.
Employee backlash over Microsoft’s work with Israel reportedly led to protests, firings, and resignations, highlighting tensions between the company’s commercial contracts and staff concerns about ethical technology use.
Smith said Microsoft is also strengthening its pre-contract review process, specifically for engagements that require human rights due diligence. “We are working to strengthen our existing pre-contract review process for evaluating engagements that require additional human rights due diligence,” he noted in the memo.
The policy update comes as Microsoft faces broader scrutiny over its global operations. In July, media reports revealed the U.S. Department of Defense’s reliance on Microsoft engineers based in China, raising security and governance questions.
Despite internal challenges, Microsoft remains in a period of strong financial performance, with its stock hitting a record high last week amid rising demand for its Azure cloud platform from OpenAI and other AI developers.
The new “Trusted Technology Review” system is part of what Smith described as an effort to “boost governance” as the company navigates increasing ethical scrutiny and geopolitical complexity in its global business.
Featured image credits: Stephen McCarthy via Flickr
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