The Associated Press revealed previously unreported details about the tech giant’s close partnership with the Israeli Ministry of Defence.<\/b>
\nWashington: Police officers arrested 18 people at worker-led protests at Microsoft headquarters on Wednesday as the tech company promises an \u201curgent\u201d review of the Israeli military\u2019s use of its technology during the ongoing war in Gaza.
Two consecutive days of protest at the Microsoft campus in Redmond, Washington, called for the tech giant to immediately cut its business ties with Israel.
But unlike Tuesday, when about 35 protesters occupying a plaza between office buildings left after Microsoft asked them to leave, the protesters on Wednesday \u201cresisted and became aggressive\u201d after the company told police they were trespassing, according to the Redmond Police Department.
The protesters also splattered red paint resembling the colour of blood over a landmark sign that bears the company logo and spells Microsoft in big gray letters.
\u201cWe said, Please leave or you will be arrested,\u2019 and they chose not to leave, so they were detained,\u201d said police spokesperson Jill Green.
Microsoft late last week said it was tapping a law firm to investigate allegations reported by British newspaper The Guardian that the Israeli Defence Forces used Microsoft\u2019s Azure cloud computing platform to store phone call data obtained through the mass surveillance of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank.
\u201cMicrosoft\u2019s standard terms of service prohibit this type of usage,\u201d the company said in a statement posted Friday, adding that the report raises \u201cprecise allegations that merit a full and urgent review.\u201d
In February, The Associated Press revealed previously unreported details about the tech giant\u2019s close partnership with the Israeli Ministry of Defence, with military use of commercial artificial intelligence products skyrocketing by nearly 200 times after the deadly Oct 7, 2023, Hamas attack.
The AP reported that the Israeli military uses Azure to transcribe, translate and process intelligence gathered through mass surveillance, which can then be cross-checked with Israel\u2019s in-house AI-enabled targeting systems.
Following the AP\u2019s report, Microsoft acknowledged the military applications but said a review it commissioned found no evidence that its Azure platform and artificial intelligence technologies were used to target or harm people in Gaza. Microsoft did not share a copy of that review or say who conducted it.
Microsoft said it will share the latest review\u2019s findings after it\u2019s completed by law firm Covington & Burling.
The promise of a second review was insufficient for the employee-led No Azure for Apartheid group, which for months has protested Microsoft\u2019s supplying the Israeli military with technology used for its war against Hamas in Gaza.
The group said on Wednesday that the technology is \u201cbeing used to surveil, starve and kill Palestinians\u201d.
Microsoft in May fired an employee who interrupted a speech by CEO Satya Nadella to protest the contracts, and in April, fired two others who interrupted the company\u2019s 50th anniversary celebration.
On Tuesday, the protesters posted online a call for what they called a \u201cworker intifada,\u201d using language evoking the Palestinian uprisings against Israeli military occupation that began in 1987.
On Wednesday, the police department said it took 18 people into custody \u201cfor multiple charges, including trespassing, malicious mischief, resisting arrest, and obstruction.\u201d It wasn\u2019t clear how many were Microsoft employees. No injuries were reported.
Microsoft said in a statement after the arrests that it \u201cwill continue to do the hard work needed to uphold its human rights standards in the Middle East, while supporting and taking clear steps to address unlawful actions that damage property, disrupt business or that threaten and harm others\u201d.
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