In a surprising turn of events, Microsoft employees have found that emails containing specific terms related to Gaza and Palestine are being blocked within the company’s internal communication system. This revelation has sparked significant concern among staff members, particularly those aligned with the No Azure for Apartheid (NOAA) protest group. According to NOAA, numerous Microsoft workers have encountered issues when attempting to send emails that include terms such as “Palestine,” “Gaza,” and “Genocide” in either the subject line or the body of their messages.
Interestingly, it appears that variations of these terms, such as “Israel” or even “P4lestine,” do not trigger the same restrictions. NOAA organizers have expressed their belief that this selective blocking represents an effort by Microsoft to suppress free speech among its employees, particularly those advocating for Palestinian rights. They argue that this constitutes a form of censorship imposed by the company’s leadership.
In response to these allegations, Microsoft has acknowledged to The Verge that it has made adjustments to its email system to minimize the circulation of “politically focused emails” within the organization. Frank Shaw, a spokesperson for Microsoft, stated, “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.” He further elaborated that recent days had seen a surge in politically charged emails being sent to vast numbers of employees, prompting the company to take steps to curtail such communications to those who have expressed interest in political matters.
This development coincides with a wave of protests by current and former Microsoft employees against the company’s contracts with the Israeli government, particularly during the ongoing Build developer conference. The protests have included notable disruptions, such as an incident where Microsoft employee Joe Lopez interrupted CEO Satya Nadella’s keynote address, shouting, “How about you show Israeli war crimes are powered by Azure?” Following this outburst, Lopez sent a mass email to thousands of employees and was subsequently terminated from his position.
On the second day of the Build conference, another disruption occurred when a Palestinian tech worker interrupted a presentation by Microsoft’s head of CoreAI. Additionally, two former employees caused a stir during a session, leading to an unintended revelation by a Microsoft executive regarding internal communications about Walmart’s use of AI.
These protests have emerged shortly after Microsoft publicly acknowledged its cloud and AI contracts with Israel, while asserting that an internal and external review found “no evidence” that its technologies were used to target or harm individuals in Gaza.
