Washington: Microsoft announced on Thursday that it had disabled services to a unit within the Israeli military after an internal review found that its artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud computing products were being used to facilitate mass surveillance of Palestinians.

This decision follows reports from The Associated Press and The Guardian earlier this year, which exposed how the Israeli Ministry of Defence had been using Microsoft's Azure platform to support military operations in Gaza and the occupation of the West Bank.

Brad Smith, Microsoft’s Vice Chair and President, explained in a blog post that the company was taking measures to ensure compliance with its terms of service. “We do not provide technology to facilitate mass surveillance of civilians,” he said. Smith said that the company had identified violations following the internal review and was taking steps to enforce the rules.

Increased military use of Microsoft products since Oct attack

An investigation by The Associated Press (AP) in February revealed that the Israeli military’s use of Microsoft products increased significantly following a deadly surprise attack by Hamas militants on October 7, 2023. According to internal Microsoft data, the Israeli military used vast amounts of cloud storage and AI-powered language translation services after the attack.

AP’s report also highlighted how the Israeli military used Microsoft Azure to process information obtained through mass surveillance, including phone calls and text messages. The intelligence gathered was then cross-checked with Israel’s own AI systems for targeting airstrikes. The report further states that several Azure subscriptions were linked to Unit 8200, a covert cyber warfare unit in the Israeli Army responsible for surveillance and intelligence collection.

Microsoft previously admitted to providing services to Israel

In May, following the investigation, Microsoft admitted that it had provided advanced AI and cloud computing services to the Israeli military during the Gaza conflict and assisted in efforts to locate and rescue Israeli hostages. However, the company insisted that its internal review found "no evidence" that its products were used to target or harm individuals.

In August, The Guardian published further revelations, including claims that the commander of Unit 8200 had met directly with Microsoft’s Chairman and CEO, Satya Nadella, in 2021. The report, produced in collaboration with the Israeli-Palestinian outlet +972 Magazine and the Hebrew-language Local Call, alleged that Unit 8200 had utilised Microsoft products to develop an AI-driven mass surveillance system. This system, according to the report, was intercepting, translating, and analysing millions of phone calls made by Palestinian civilians, with the data stored at Microsoft’s cloud data centres in Europe.

Following the report’s findings, Microsoft commissioned a second review, this time conducted by an external law firm. While that review remains ongoing, Brad Smith confirmed that evidence had been found of violations of Microsoft's terms of service, leading to the suspension of services. However, Smith did not specify which Israeli military unit was affected by the move.

As per the report, a massive cache of intercepted calls, amounting to 8,000 terabytes of data, was stored in a Microsoft data centre in the Netherlands. Following the publication of the investigation findings, Unit 8200 appears to have quickly moved the surveillance data out of the country.

Significant but insufficient win

Microsoft declined to provide further details on Thursday, including whether Unit 8200 was involved, and how it plans to ensure that the Israeli military does not simply shift its surveillance operations to other Azure subscriptions.

An Israeli security official, speaking anonymously, told media that the suspension of services would cause “no damage to the operational capabilities” of the Israel Defence Forces (IDF).

Hossam Nasr, one of over a dozen Microsoft employees fired or arrested after protests over the company’s involvement in the Gaza conflict, described Thursday’s announcement as a "significant and unprecedented win." However, he added that the move was not sufficient.

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Hossam Nasr's post on X

“Microsoft has only disabled a small subset of services to only one unit in the Israeli military,” said Nasr, an organiser with the group No Azure for Apartheid. “The vast majority of Microsoft’s contract with the Israeli military remains intact.”

AP