Microsoft Probing Whether Israel Used Its Cloud to Build Palestinian Surveillance System

For the past two years, Microsoft has been dogged by accusations—both within and outside the company—that its technology is aiding the Israeli war effort. Microsoft’s own employees have protested the firm’s contracts with Israel, and protesters have disrupted the company’s various talks and conferences. Even the company’s 50th anniversary was ruined by shouts from one of its own employees, who reportedly yelled “Shame on you” while calling the company’s head of AI a “war profiteer” who was “using AI for genocide.” Now, the company claims it’s launched an “urgent” probe into whether its cloud business is being used by Israel to conduct a massive surveillance operation in Gaza.

The company’s announcement comes on the heels of a report published by The Guardian, which claims that Unit 8200, Israel’s shadowy intelligence agency, had been using Microsoft’s Azure cloud servers. The report claimed that, as part of a deal with Microsoft’s CEO, Satya Nadella, the spy unit had been granted access to a “customised and segregated area within Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform.” The siloed cloud setup was ultimately used to build a “sweeping and intrusive system” designed to collect and store “recordings of millions of mobile phone calls made each day by Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank,” the report claimed.

On Friday, Microsoft told The Guardian:  “Microsoft appreciates that the Guardian’s recent report raises additional and precise allegations that merit a full and urgent review.” The review of Microsoft’s dealings with Israel will be overseen by attorneys at the law firm Covington & Burling, the outlet wrote.

Gizmodo reached out to Microsoft for more information. In a statement previously shared with The Guardian, the company said that, if Israel is “using Azure for the storage of data files of phone calls obtained through broad or mass surveillance of civilians in Gaza and the West Bank,” it would represent a violation of its terms of service.

This is the second legal probe Microsoft has opened into its relationship with the Israeli government. The prior probe took place earlier this year, after its employees’ protests. In May, Microsoft released a report in which it claimed to have found “no evidence to date that Microsoft’s Azure and AI technologies have been used to target or harm people in the conflict in Gaza.”

Other big tech firms—most notably Amazon and Google—have also been accused of complicity in Israel’s military efforts. In July, a U.N. group released a report that claimed that Microsoft, Alphabet, and Amazon grant Israel virtually government-wide access to their cloud and artificial intelligence technologies, enhancing data processing, decision-making, and surveillance and analysis capacities.”