Microsoft accused of censor the words “Palestine” and “Gaza” in its internal emails

The tension rises at Microsoft. According to the collective of employees No Azure for apartheidthe American firm would have recently activated an automatic filter preventing the sending of internal emails containing certain words deemed sensitive, such as “Palestine”, “Gaza” or “genocide”. A measure which, according to them, would aim to silence the internal dispute, in the midst of a crisis linked to the alleged involvement of Microsoft in the Israeli genocidal war on Gaza.

The blockage was discovered shortly after the opening of the Build conference, disrupted several times by militant employees denouncing the collaboration of the company with the Israeli army. For months, voices have been internally has been against Microsoft’s supply of cloud services and artificial intelligence tools to the Israeli Defense Ministry.

While the words “Israel” or “Palestine” still escape filters, several testimonies indicate that the messages containing terms linked to the Palestinian cause are systematically blocked, without notification to shippers or recipients.

Faced with increasing pressure, Microsoft recently published a self-assessment report concluding that its technologies were used to harm civilians in Gaza. But independent surveys, in particular carried out by Drop News site,, The Guardian and Israeli media +972revealed that the company would have actively courted the Israeli Defense Ministry after October 7, 2023, by offering it important discounts on its Azure and IA solutions. These revelations are added to a series of controversial layoffs: on Monday, an employee who interrupted the speech of CEO Satya Nadella was returned. The next day, another public speaking in support of Palestine was violently interrupted by security.

Microsoft has not yet officially reacted to accusations of censorship or allegations on its military contracts. But internally, the fracture seems to worsen.