Protesters break into Microsoft data center site in Amsterdam
Members of the action group Geef Tegengas put a banner on a crane during a protest. | Image: Getty Images Protesters have broken into a construction site of a new Microsoft data center in Amsterdam this morning. Members of the Geef Tegengas group helped organize the protest against the construction of three 85-meter data center towers in the outskirts of Amsterdam. Reuters reports that around 100 people made it into the construction site, with some scaling a crane to place a "fu
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Protesters broke into a construction site of a new data center in Amsterdam, with approximately 100 people scaling cranes and displaying banners opposing artificial intelligence and Microsoft. The protest is part of a broader wave of data center opposition across Europe, driven by concerns about their development and impact, as well as broader activist concerns about technology company practices. Amsterdam had previously banned new data centers until 2030, though this Microsoft project was approved under an exemption because it had been planned before the ban took effect. Microsoft has faced similar resistance to data center projects elsewhere, including abandoning a major project in the UK due to power supply constraints, while also experiencing protests from employees over the company's technology use in geopolitical conflicts.
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