Microsoft announced Thursday that it has disabled services to a specific unit within the Israeli military, following a company review that determined its artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud computing products were being used to facilitate mass surveillance of Palestinians. This action by the tech giant comes after a series of investigative reports published earlier this year by The Associated Press (AP) and The Guardian, which detailed the Israeli Ministry of Defense's utilization of Microsoft’s Azure platform in its operations in Gaza and the West Bank.

Brad Smith, Microsoft’s vice chair and president, confirmed the company was taking measures to enforce compliance with its terms of service in a blog post. An AP investigation in February revealed a significant surge in the Israeli military's use of Microsoft products subsequent to the deadly surprise attack by Hamas militants on October 7, 2023. Internal Microsoft data, cited by the AP, showed extensive use of cloud storage and substantial AI-enabled language translation services by the Israelis. The AP's report further detailed that Israel's military employed Microsoft Azure to gather intelligence from mass surveillance, including transcribing and translating phone calls and text messages. This intelligence was then cross-referenced with Israel’s proprietary AI systems for targeting airstrikes.

The AP's findings indicated that multiple Azure subscriptions were linked to Unit 8200, an elite cyber warfare unit within the Israeli Army. This unit is responsible for clandestine operations, signals intelligence collection, and surveillance. Following the AP's report, Microsoft acknowledged in May that it had indeed sold advanced AI and cloud computing services to the Israeli military during the Gaza war, contributing to efforts to locate and rescue Israeli hostages. However, at that time, the company stated an internal review had found “no evidence” its Azure platform was being used to target or harm individuals.

A subsequent report by The Guardian, in collaboration with the Israeli-Palestinian publication +972 Magazine and the Hebrew-language outlet Local Call, published in August, provided further revelations. This report highlighted a meeting in 2021 between the commander of Unit 8200 and Microsoft chairman and CEO Satya Nadella. It claimed that the Israeli unit subsequently leveraged Microsoft products to develop an AI-powered mass surveillance system. This system was reportedly capable of sweeping up, translating, and analyzing millions of telephone calls made by Palestinian civilians daily. Data from this Israeli surveillance system, according to the report, was stored in Microsoft cloud data centers located in Europe.

In response to The Guardian's report, Microsoft initiated a second review, this time conducted by an outside law firm. While this external review is still ongoing, Smith stated on Thursday that the probe had unearthed evidence indicating its products were being utilized in violation of the company's terms of service. Smith, however, did not specify the particular Israeli unit that was losing access to Microsoft services. Microsoft declined to provide detailed answers to AP's questions regarding whether Unit 8200 was the affected unit or how the company would prevent the Israeli military from potentially transferring its mass surveillance activities to other Azure subscriptions under its control.

Hossam Nasr, an organizer with the group No Azure for Apartheid and one of more than a dozen Microsoft employees who were fired or arrested after protests concerning the company’s involvement in the Gaza war, lauded Thursday’s announcement as a “significant and unprecedented win.” Nevertheless, Nasr stressed that the action was insufficient, stating, “Microsoft has only disabled a small subset of services to only one unit in the Israeli military. The vast majority of Microsoft’s contract with the Israeli military remains intact.”