Microsoft offers Trusted Technology Review forms to employees

microsoft is offering its employees a way to voice concerns about the use of its technology after controversy arose over the company’s activities in the Middle East.

Microsoft’s internal portal for its more than 200,000 employees now includes an option to request a “trusted technology review,” company President Brad Smith said in a memo disclosed in a securities filing Wednesday. This is designed to cause anxiety about the way Microsoft builds and uses technology, he said.

“Our standard non-retaliation policy applies and you can raise concerns anonymously,” Smith wrote.

The move comes weeks after Microsoft stopped providing some services to Israeli Defense Forces. In August, the Guardian reported that the Israel Defense Forces’ 8,200 unit had built a system in Microsoft’s Azure cloud to track Palestinian phone calls as part of the invasion of Gaza, prompting Microsoft to investigate the paper’s claims.

Employees protested the company’s cooperation with Israel, leading to firings and resignations.

As OpenAI and other companies increasingly rely on Azure to run their artificial intelligence models, Microsoft has been underperforming, sending its stock to a record high last week. But layoffs, a return-to-office mandate and a dispute over a contract with Microsoft have created stress within the company.

Media reports in July also stated that the U.S. Department of Defense relies on Microsoft engineers in China.

Microsoft, which celebrated its 50th anniversary in April, is now seizing an opportunity to strengthen its governance.

“We are working to strengthen our existing pre-contract review process to evaluate contracts that require additional human rights due diligence,” Smith wrote.

WATCH: Microsoft sees ‘enormous’ challenges and huge opportunities as global economy enters new phase, CEO says