Protesters stormed a construction site for a new Microsoft data center in Amsterdam on Friday, November 6, 2026. The Geef Tegengas group organized the demonstration against the planned three 85-meter data center towers on the outskirts of Amsterdam. Reuters reported that around 100 protesters breached the site, with some climbing a crane to hang a “fuck AI” banner. Other protesters displayed a “Microsoft powers genocide” banner and chanted slogans like “Microsoft has got to go” and “free Palestine.”
The protest comes despite Amsterdam’s ban on new data centers until 2030, which was initially announced at the end of 2023. Microsoft, the sole tenant of the project, has been moving forward with plans dating back to 2016. The site, developed by British firm Pure Data Centres, has managed to bypass certain restrictions to reach the construction phase.
This protest follows a wave of similar actions across Europe, including a mock Israeli military checkpoint staged outside a Microsoft data center in Dublin earlier this week. In the US, voters have also pushed back against unrestrained data center development, even as AI data centers continue to emerge. Microsoft recently abandoned the UK’s largest data center project after local grid officials delayed power supply until the 2030s.
The tech giant has faced internal dissent as well, with former employees disrupting its 50th anniversary party and accusing AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman of being a “war profiteer.” Last year, an employee interrupted Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella’s keynote at the Build developer conference. Months later, Microsoft fired two protesters who occupied its president’s office.