Sept. 26 (UPI) — Microsoft has ended a portion of the Israel Ministry of Defense’s access to technology it used to spy on Palestinian civilians’ phone calls in Gaza and the West Bank, calling it a violation of Microsoft’s terms of service.
Late last week, Microsoft told Israeli officials that spy agency Unit 8200 were in violation of Microsoft’s terms of service by storing surveillance data in Azure, a cloud service, The Guardian reported.
Microsoft released a statement that it wrote to employees Thursday about its internal investigation after an article The Guardian published in August that revealed what the Ministry of Defense was using Azure for.
“While our review is ongoing, we have found evidence that supports elements of The Guardian’s reporting. This evidence includes information relating to IMOD consumption of Azure storage capacity in the Netherlands and the use of AI services,” Brad Smith, vice chair and president of Microsoft, said in the statement.
The Guardian conducted a joint investigation with +972 Magazine and the Hebrew-language outlet Local Call. The Guardian wrote that Microsoft and Unit 8200 had worked together on a plan to move large volumes of sensitive intelligence material into Azure.
According to The Guardian’s reporting, Unit 8200 built such a large database, it could collect, play back and analyze the cell phone calls of the entire population. So much so that a mantra emerged: “A million calls an hour.”
The information was stored in a Microsoft data center in the Netherlands, but soon after The Guardian’s reporting, the data appears to have been moved out of the country. The Guardian reports that sources said the Israel Defense Forces planned to move the data to an Amazon Web Services cloud.
“We therefore have informed IMOD of Microsoft’s decision to cease and disable specified IMOD subscriptions and their services, including their use of specific cloud storage and AI services and technologies,” Smith said. “We have reviewed this decision with IMOD and the steps we are taking to ensure compliance with our terms of service, focused on ensuring our services are not used for mass surveillance of civilians.”
Microsoft has faced strong pressure to disengage with Israel, including from its employees. In late August, two Microsoft employees were fired for allegedly breaking into Smith’s office.
An online group called No Azure for Apartheid announced on X that Microsoft fired them for “participating in a sit-in at the office of Brad Smith” at the Microsoft location in Redmond, Wash., to demand the company cut its ties to Israel.
Seven people were arrested that day, two of whom were Microsoft employees.