Silicon Silence: How Microsoft mutes Palestine and powers occupation

Microsoft employees report that internal emails containing terms such as genocide, Gaza, Palestine, and phrases related to anti-Zionist activities by company staff have been blocked and not delivered.

The “No Azure for Apartheid” campaign has called on Microsoft to stop providing its Azure cloud computing platform to the Israeli military. The campaign recently revealed that emails, some of which referenced Vania Agrawal, a former employee and group organizer, took up to 24 hours or more to be delivered, with some never reaching their recipients.

They noted that emails containing words like “P4lestine” were sent without issues.

Microsoft claimed that emails about this issue were sent widely, leading to countermeasures. Frank Shaw, Microsoft’s Chief Communications Officer, stated, “Sending emails to large numbers of employees about topics unrelated to work is inappropriate.”

This email delay followed an incident where Joe Lopez, a Microsoft employee, interrupted a speech by CEO Satya Nadella at the annual Microsoft Build conference, shouting, “Satya, how about you show how Microsoft is killing Palestinians? How about you show how Israel’s war crimes are supported by Azure? As a Microsoft employee, I refuse to be complicit in this genocide; Palestine must be free.”

Microsoft has faced intense criticism for its extensive technological support for the Israeli regime during the Gaza offensive. The tech giant recently confirmed it provided large-scale artificial intelligence and cloud computing services to the occupying regime during the Gaza war.

However, Microsoft claimed that internal reviews found no evidence of the Israeli military using these services to target or harm Palestinians. This claim has been widely criticized as hypocritical, given the scale and intensity of the war and documented use of advanced technologies to target Palestinian civilians and infrastructure.

It has also been revealed that Microsoft deactivated the email account of Karim Khan, the International Criminal Court’s prosecutor. Reports indicate this action hindered ongoing ICC investigations and the execution of arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and senior Israeli officials.

Such actions raise serious questions about Microsoft’s commitment to neutrality and its potential complicity in obstructing international justice.