Microsoft has disabled services to IMOD
The move comes as the tech giant investigates recent allegations that Azure technology is being used by the Israeli government to surveil Gazan citizens.
Microsoft is shutting down some services it provides to the Israeli Ministry of Defense (IMOD) following recent allegations published in an August Guardian article that Azure technology was being used to surveil Palestinians.
In a blog post, vice chair and president Brad Smith notes that the company "found evidence that supports elements of The Guardian's reporting."
The Guardian's August 6 report alleged the IMOD created a "sweeping and intrusive" surveillance apparatus built on Microsoft's Azure technology. According to the piece, "the cloud-based system… has been put to frequent use alongside a series of AI-driven target recommendation tools also developed on [spy chief Yossi Sariel's] watch and debuted by the military in a campaign that has devastated civilian life and created a profound humanitarian crisis."
Microsoft faced resistance to this contract from many employees who supported the Palestinian-led BDS protest movement. Among those protesting were STJV union members at Arkane Studios. They and their peers have been calling for an end to its contracts with the Israeli military, and that the company conduct a "transparent, independent and public audit" of its technologies, contracts, services, and investments to ensure they do not violate the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, the Geneva Conventions, and Microsoft's own Human Rights statement.
Smith had this to say of the report and subsequent investigation at Microsoft: "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.
"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. 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."
Increased pressure on Microsoft to cut ties with the Israeli military
The move to stop services to IMOD also comes after a UN special report decreed Israel's actions in Gaza a genocide, stating plainly "that the Israeli authorities and Israeli forces have committed and are continuing to commit genocide against Palestinians in Gaza." Microsoft is also acting in the context of the aforementioned BDS (Boycott, Divest, Sanctions) protest movement's pressure on the company, which opens its page on the tech giant with "Microsoft is perhaps the most complicit tech company in Israel’s illegal apartheid regime and ongoing genocide against 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza."
Last month, a number of current and former Microsoft workers and community members held quarter at Microsoft's headquarters in Redmond Washington, as part of a No Azure for Apartheid protest.