Published on, Sept. 26 -- September 26, 2025 10:50 AM

US tech giant Microsoft has cancelled some services it provided to Israel's Defence Ministry after finding they were being used for mass surveillance of Palestinians.

President Brad Smith confirmed the move in a blog post, saying a specific military unit lost access to cloud storage and AI tools after an investigation showed misuse of Microsoft's Azure platform.

A joint report by The Guardian, +972 Magazine, and Local Call revealed Israel's Unit 8200 used Azure to store and analyze millions of intercepted Palestinian phone calls, with data linked to airstrikes in Gaza.

While Microsoft called the suspension an "unprecedented step," activists noted most of the company's contracts wit...