Around 100 protesters broke into a Microsoft data center construction site in Amsterdam on November 6, 2026, with some scaling a crane to hang a “fuck AI” banner and others unfurling a “Microsoft powers genocide” sign. Demonstrators also chanted “Microsoft has got to go” and “free Palestine” at the site.
The action was organized in part by the Geef Tegengas group, targeting the construction of three 85-meter data center towers on the outskirts of Amsterdam. The site is being built by British developer Pure Data Centres, with Microsoft set to be its sole tenant.
The protest comes despite Amsterdam having banned new data centers until 2030, a ban introduced following a temporary stop announced at the end of 2023. Microsoft’s project has proceeded because it was originally planned as far back as 2016 — before the ban took effect — and has navigated certain loopholes to reach the construction stage.
The Amsterdam demonstration is part of a broader wave of data center protests across Europe. Earlier the same week, activists staged a mock Israeli military checkpoint outside a Microsoft data center in Dublin. In the US, voters also rejected unrestrained data center development in several locations.
Microsoft has faced mounting pressure on multiple fronts. The company abandoned the UK’s largest data center project last month after local electricity grid officials said the site would not receive power until the 2030s. Internally, employee protests have also intensified over the past year, with demonstrators interrupting Microsoft’s 50th anniversary party and CEO Satya Nadella’s keynote at the Build developer conference. Microsoft subsequently fired two employees who occupied its president’s office.
The Amsterdam protest suggests opposition to Microsoft’s infrastructure expansion — particularly tied to AI development and the company’s contracts related to Israel’s military operations — is continuing to grow both inside and outside the company.
Source: The Verge