Microsoft under fire for 'blocking Palestine-related words in emails' following employee protests

Microsoft is reportedly blocking internal emails containing words related to Israel’s brutal war on Gaza, in another apparent attempt by the tech giant to stifle pro-Palestinian expression in its offices.

The tech company has secretly implemented an automated filter that blocks emails containing words such as "Palestine", "Gaza", and "genocide" from reaching recipients, according to Drop Site News. The move was detected on Wednesday by No Azure for Apartheid, a group of pro-Palestine employees of the tech company.

The terms "Israel" and "P4lestine" do not prompt a block, the group said.

Since the start of Israel’s war in Gaza, social media users have resorted to writing Palestine with the number 4 replacing the latter a, in a bid to circumvent shadow banning, censorship, and such.

The group said the move came after one of its pro-Palestine members disrupted a presentation at the company’s flagship Build 2025 conference in Seattle, held earlier in the week.

The Microsoft employee yelled: "My people are suffering" and "Cut ties! Free, free Palestine!' at Jay Parikh, Microsoft’s Executive Vice President of CoreAI, during his presentation on the Azure AI technology.

The group also said one employee, identified as Joe Lopez, was later fired by the company for disrupting CEO Satya Nadella with pro-Palestinian slogans, as he spoke during the Build Keynote speech.

In a post on social media, the group decried Microsoft’s moves, calling them "yet another chapter in a long tale of Microsoft’s intimidation, retaliation, repression and censorship culture".

Lopez reportedly sent a mass email to employees stating that his actions were triggered by the company’s silence over previous demonstrations against Microsoft's links to Israel.

Speaking to The New Arab, the Tech for Palestine group said Microsoft "is learning that actively taking part in a genocide is not something their employees are going to sit idly by and allow".

Paul Biggar, CEO of Tech for Palestine said: "Microsoft's direct involvement in the genocide is going to lead to some very unpleasant questions for [CEO] Satya Nadella, if not a trip to the Hague."

Since the onset of Israel’s war in Gaza in October 2023, the tech company has come under fire for firing multiple staff members who have expressed opposition to the selling of artificial intelligence (AI) and other cloud computing services to the Israeli military, as well as pitching proposals and offering discounts.

The Israeli army’s reliance on the Azure, the computing and cloud software, has prompted the war on Gaza to be labelled as "the first AI-powered genocide".

The tech giant has also ousted staff for holding vigils mourning the thousands killed in Gaza, where over 53,700 lives have been taken in Israeli military offensives over the past 19 months.

Earlier this month, Microsoft claimed that selling its services to the Israeli army was intended to locate captives held in Gaza, and not for harming Palestinians.

Protesters began demonstrating against Microsoft’s relationship with Israel on Monday at the company’s Build conference. On Wednesday, protesters released a birdie noise maker, and signs attached to helium balloons which read "MSFT tech kills" and "IOF off Azure" in reference to the Israeli army.

Last month, former employees interrupted the company’s 50th anniversary event in Canada, labelling AI chief Mustafa Suleyman a "war profiteer" and accusing him of "having blood on his hands".

The New Arab has reached out to Microsoft about the activists' claims.