Microsoft employees cannot send emails that contain the words "Palestine" or "Gaza" at the moment. Those terms have been temporarily blocked inside the company.
Protest group No Azure for Apartheid reported that "dozens of Microsoft workers" have not been able to send emails that mention "Palestine," "Gaza," or "genocide." The temporary block prevents emails that mention those terms in the subject line or the body.
Microsoft confirmed to The Verge that changes have been put in place to reduce "politically focused emails" within the company.
“Emailing large numbers of employees about any topic not related to work is not appropriate. We have an established forum for employees who have opted in to political issues,” said Microsoft spokesperson Frank Shaw to The Verge in a statement. “Over the past couple of days, a number of politically focused emails have been sent to tens of thousands of employees across the company and we have taken measures to try and reduce those emails to those that have not opted in.”
Protesters have interrupted several Microsoft events over the past few weeks. A protest at Microsoft's 50th Anniversary event highlighted the demands of No Azure for Apartheid.
Build 2025 was interrupted three times by protesters, including one disruption that led to Microsoft accidentally revealing Walmart's AI plans.
Microsoft recently confirmed its work with the Israeli government but denied that its Azure and AI technologies have been used to harm people in the Gaza conflict:
"In recent months, we’ve heard concerns from our employees and the public about media reports regarding Microsoft’s Azure and AI technologies being used by the Israeli military to target civilians or cause harm in the conflict in Gaza. We take these concerns seriously. In response, we have conducted an internal review and engaged an external firm to undertake additional fact-finding to help us assess these issues. Based on these reviews, including interviewing dozens of employees and assessing documents, we 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."
The full statement from Microsoft details the company's relationship with the Israel Ministry of Defense. While the statement discusses the conflict in Gaza, it does not mention Palestine by name.
Microsoft also specified that it is not able to see how customers use the company's software on their own servers or devices:
"It is important to acknowledge that Microsoft does not have visibility into how customers use our software on their own servers or other devices. This is typically the case for on premise software. Nor do we have visibility to the IMOD’s government cloud operations, which are supported through contracts with cloud providers other than Microsoft. By definition, our reviews do not cover these situations."
The recent protests held by No Azure for Apartheid focus on Microsoft's cloud contracts with the Israeli government. Microsoft claims internal and external reviews have found no evidence that Microsoft Azure and AI technologies or other software from the company have been used to harm people.
The story is still developing as protests continue and Microsoft faces ongoing scrutiny over its government contracts.
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