A Fox News report describes a backlash against Microsoft after the company announced substantial layoffs while also gaining approval to hire thousands of foreign workers through the US H-1B visa programme. Microsoft is cutting 4,800 jobs in total, including 1,600 from its Xbox gaming division, at the same time as being approved this year to sponsor 2,273 non-immigrant workers from overseas. The juxtaposition has sparked anger online, with critics arguing that American jobs are being displaced by cheaper foreign labour.

According to the article, the H-1B figures come from US Citizenship and Immigration Services data, and Microsoft is said to be the sixth-largest beneficiary of the programme, which is dominated by workers from India, with further applications still pending. Social media users quoted in the piece accused the company and the government of "job theft" and called for penalties against firms that replace domestic staff. The report also notes, in a separate video summary, that a federal judge in Boston recently blocked the Trump administration's $100,000 H-1B visa fee, ruling it an unauthorised tax; the White House plans to appeal.