Surveillance in the Cloud: Microsoft faces scrutiny over Azure’s use by Israeli Unit 8200

Leaked documents have placed Microsoft at the center of a new controversy: Israel’s notorious Unit 8200 allegedly used the company’s Azure cloud to store millions of intercepted Palestinian phone calls, turning Big Tech infrastructure into a tool of mass surveillance and occupation.

In response, Microsoft has launched an “urgent” external investigation, led by the US law firm Covington & Burling — its second probe in just one month into how Azure was weaponized by Israeli forces. The company itself admitted that storing civilian data obtained through mass surveillance in Gaza and the West Bank would violate its own terms of service.

This revelation raises pressing questions: how deeply is global tech entangled in the machinery of war and repression — and who will hold them accountable?