Some slightly racist comments have been circulating about the new head of Xbox, and the Redmond-based tech giant has spoken out against them on social media.
Numerous complaints and concerns have been raised about the layoffs at Xbox, which resulted in 3,200 people losing their jobs and four studios closing down (or five, if Arkane’s situation is clarified). However, one claim we haven’t seen yet is that all of this is part of an effort to replace American workers with non-Americans on H-1B visas. This changed when Microsoft’s chief communications officer, Frank X. Shaw, refuted the claim on Twitter. These accusations are clearly based on articles such as this Fox News piece titled “Outrage Erupts After American Brand Lays Off 1,600 Employees After Securing Thousands of Foreign Worker Visas.”
Fox noted that Microsoft is laying off about 4,800 employees, most of whom are from the Xbox division, while simultaneously obtaining permission to hire 2,273 nonimmigrant workers from abroad under the H-1B visa program. Citing the opinions of people selected at random on Twitter, Fox News reports that critics online are angry and claim that American jobs are being handed over to foreigners unfairly. Some critics even allege that Sharma’s Indian heritage played a role in the layoffs of American workers, given the proportion of Indian H-1B workers.
The H-1B visa allows U.S. companies to hire foreign workers to fill specific job openings. Criticism of the program and its impact on U.S. workers has fluctuated over the years but resurfaced during the second Trump administration. Earlier this year, Trump attempted to impose a $100,000 fee on H-1B visa applications, but the courts ultimately struck down the measure. However, the Republican Party continues to use this issue as a topic of heated debate. For example, Vice President JD Vance stated in a recent speech that American jobs should go to American workers, not foreign fraudsters. The Department of Labor is also taking action. This kind of rhetoric can lead to the wrong conclusions, and allegations of H-1B visa abuse, which are accompanied by overt racism, have generated countless posts, shares, and likes, especially on Twitter. This prompted Shaw to speak out:
Lots of bad information out there –let’s clear it up.
• Recent workforce changes were made to restructure the XBOX business because it is not healthy. They were not made to replace employees with foreign workers.
• The H-1B figures being referenced are Microsoft-wide visa…– Frank X. Shaw (@fxshaw) July 10, 2026
“There’s lots of bad information out there. Let’s clear it up. Recent workforce changes were made to restructure the Xbox business because it was not performing well. They were not made to replace employees with foreign workers. The H-1B figures being referenced are Microsoft-wide visa renewals and new hire applications. They are not specific to Xbox and represent a small percentage of Microsoft’s overall workforce. The majority of impacted roles were not American. Xbox is the largest employer of American workers in the gaming industry and the largest American gaming company. Asha is an American-born, -raised, and -educated CEO from Wisconsin,” Shaw wrote.
Earlier this week, the U.S. Federal Reserve appointed Sharma to a new working group focused on productivity and jobs. In this role, she will help assess the economic impacts of new general-purpose technologies, including AI, to inform the Federal Reserve’s policy decisions.
Source: PCGamer, Fox News, Reuters, The Hill
