Microsoft employees discovered that the company is blocking emails that contain words like “Palestine,” “Gaza,” and “Genocide” after a series of protesters disputed the company’s flagship Build event.
“No Azure for Apartheid” called the development: “Yet another chapter in a long tale of Microsoft’s intimidation, retaliation, repression, and censorship culture.”
Tensions have been riding high within the company after a series of protesters, including at least one former Microsoft worker, disrupted the company’s Build event to oppose the company’s contracts with the Israeli government.
Haiby accidentally switched the screen she was sharing to display internal messages about Walmart’s upcoming use of Microsoft’s AI.
Responding to the recent protests, a spokesperson for Microsoft previously told Fortune: “The safety and well-being of our employees, customers, and community remain our top priority. We support the right to peaceful assembly and ask that it be exercised respectfully.”
Microsoft has faced similar protests before. Just last month, ex-employees disrupted its 50th-anniversary event, denouncing the company’s AI chief, Mustafa Suleyman, as a “war profiteer.”
Last year, the company also dismissed two employees who organized a vigil for Palestinians killed in Gaza, citing breaches of internal company policies as the cause.
Microsoft has continually denied that its technology is used by the Israeli military to harm Palestinian civilians in Gaza. Earlier this month, the company published the results of an internal review that found “no evidence” of Microsoft’s Azure or AI technologies being used to harm people.
Protesters have rejected the review, however, criticizing its scope. Microsoft acknowledged in the review that it didn’t “have visibility into how customers use our software on their own servers or other devices.”
In his email to employees, Lopez accused Microsoft’s leaders of telling lies about Azure’s use in Gaza.
“Those of us who have been paying attention know that this is a bold-faced lie. Every byte of data that is stored on the cloud (much of it likely containing data obtained by illegal mass surveillance) can and will be used as justification to level cities and exterminate Palestinians,” Lopez wrote.
