Seven people were arrested after occupying Microsoft President Brad Smith's office during protests over the company's ties to the Israel Defense Forces. Current and former Microsoft employees participated, organizers said, and the protest group No Azure for Apartheid led the action. Protesters demanded Microsoft cut ties with Israel and pay reparations to Palestinians. The British newspaper The Guardian reported that the Israel Defense Forces used Microsoft's Azure to store phone call data from mass surveillance of Palestinians; Microsoft said it hired an outside law firm to investigate and that its terms of service prohibit such use. Smith said Microsoft will uphold human rights principles and contractual terms.
Current and former Microsoft employees were among those arrested, said the protest group No Azure for Apartheid. Azure is Microsoft's primary cloud computing platform, and Microsoft has said it is reviewing a report in a British newspaper this month that Israel has used it to facilitate attacks on Palestinian targets. The protesters could be seen huddled together on a Twitch livestream as officers moved in to arrest them.
Microsoft has said it hired an outside law firm to investigate the allegations, but that its terms of service would prohibit such use. "There are many things we can't do to change the world, but we will do what we can and what we should," Smith told reporters at a media briefing following Tuesday's arrests. "That starts with ensuring that our human rights principles and contractual terms of service are upheld everywhere, by all of our customers around the world."
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