Microsoft cuts off some services used by Israeli military unit

"Brad Smith, president of the company, said using the firm's technology to conduct mass surveillance on civilians was a violation of its standard terms of service. Mr Smith said the decision, which was prompted by an investigation published by The Guardian, would not affect other work the company does with Israel. Microsoft's work with the Israeli government has been a controversial issue, including within the company, prompting protests by employees."

"Last month's investigation by the Guardian, which collaborated with Israeli-Palestinian publication +972 Magazine and Hebrew-language outlet Local Call, found that a unit of the Israeli defence ministry used the expansive storage capacity of Microsoft's cloud service, Azure, to create a giant trove of calls made by ordinary Palestinians that it had intercepted. The ability to collect, play back and analyse communications with such breadth helped to shape military operations in Gaza and the West Bank, according to their investigation."

"Microsoft, which has responded to protests from staff over its work for Israel by firing some employees, said it launched its own review in response to the article. The company said it did not access the content of its customers as part of that review but found other evidence to support elements of the article, including consumption of storage capacity in the Netherlands and use of AI services."

Microsoft suspended certain cloud and AI services to a unit of the Israeli Ministry of Defence after its technology was used to collect, store, and analyze large volumes of Palestinians' communications. The company's president stated that using its technology for mass surveillance of civilians violated standard terms of service. The company launched a review and reported evidence such as heavy storage consumption in the Netherlands and use of AI services, while saying it did not access customer content during the review. The suspension will not affect other work with Israel. The relationship with the Israeli government has prompted internal protests and prior dismissals.

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