Human rights groups allege Microsoft Ireland's data processing' on behalf of IDF 'put millions of Palestinians in danger'

It was reported the Israeli military was storing phone calls, texts and audio it had intercepted from Palestinians on Microsoft servers in Ireland and the Netherlands. Picture: AP/Abdel Kareem Hana

A complaint has been lodged with Ireland’s Data Protection Commission against tech giant Microsoft over alleged “unlawful data processing” on behalf of the Israeli Defence Forces in Gaza.

The Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL) and UK-based NGO Ekō filed the complaint, alleging processing by Microsoft Ireland facilitated the killing of civilians in Gaza by the IDF, continues to enable mass surveillance of individuals in the entire occupied Palestinian territory, and enables Israeli occupation of Palestine.

“Microsoft’s technology has put millions of Palestinians in danger,” ICCL executive director Joe O’Brien said.

“These are not abstract data-protection failures — they are violations that have enabled real-world violence. When EU infrastructure is used to enable surveillance and targeting, the Irish Data Protection Commission must step in — and it must use its full powers to hold Microsoft to account.” 

The ICCL is representing a group of data subjects, including Palestinians living in Gaza and the West Bank, as well as EU residents who communicate with people in the occupied Palestinan territories, alleging breaches of Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

Its complaint includes materials from within Microsoft provided by whistleblowers, while Éamonn Conlon SC assisted pro-bono in the formulation of the complaint.

In August, the Guardian reported the Israeli military was storing phone calls, texts and audio it had intercepted from Palestinians on Microsoft servers in Ireland and the Netherlands. The tech firm subsequently launched its own independent investigation into the matter.

The ICCL and Ekō’s complaint claims Microsoft “facilitated the removal of these data from EU servers in a manner that frustrated any potential regulatory investigation”, and this may have breached the GDPR.

The following month, the Guardian again reported Microsoft had terminated the Israeli military’s access to technology that had been used for surveillance in Gaza.

Sources told the publication Microsoft told Israeli officials that Unit 8200, the military’s elite spy agency, had violated the company’s terms of service by storing the vast trove of surveillance data in its Azure cloud platform.

The complainants allege Microsoft’s Azure system hosts “critical components” of an Israeli system that is central to its control of the movement of Palestinians. They allege the processing of data enabled the Israeli military to intercept and store phone calls of Palestinians at a mass scale, which has been linked to lethal targeting of civilians in Gaza.

They also allege Microsoft facilitated the removal of intercepted phone calls from EU servers to Israel, and its actions “aid and abet genocide and apartheid”.

“This is an urgent matter upon which hangs the welfare and survival of the Palestinian people and the privacy of people outside the Occupied Territories who communicate with them,” Mr O’Brien added.

“It is essential that the DPC move quickly and decisively, particularly in view of the threat to life posed by the issues at the heart of this complaint.”

A spokesperson for the Data Protection Commissioner confirmed it had received the complaint and said it was currently “under assessment”.

In a statement, a Microsoft spokesperson said: “Our customers own their data and the actions taken by this customer to transfer their data in August was their choice.

“These actions in no way impeded our investigation. That investigation led to a decision to cease some services in September, and ultimately to the customer storing their data with another provider.”

Since the October 7, 2023, attacks by Hamas in Israel that killed more than 1,200 people and saw over 250 taken hostage, the Gaza health ministry has said 70,000 people have been killed in Israeli attacks. 

Last week, Amnesty International said Israel was “still committing genocide” against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, despite the ceasefire agreed in October.