Microsoft is banning Palestinians in US for calling relatives in Gaza: Report
Palestinians living abroad have accused the tech company Microsoft of closing their email accounts without warning, cutting them off from crucial online services, the BBC reports.
They say the decision has also stopped them from using the video platform Skype, which Microsoft owns, to contact relatives in Gaza.
Microsoft said the users in question violated its terms of service. It also denied blocking users or calls based on region.
Skype remains an affordable tool to contact people in Gaza, where international calls are unreliable and expensive.
Earlier this week, Meta — the parent company of the platforms Facebook and Instagram — said it would start taking down posts that target “Zionists”, when the term is used to refer to Jewish people and Israelis rather than representing supporters of the political movement.
Meta’s policy update comes as tensions escalate in the Middle East amid Israel’s war in Gaza.
The social media company has been criticised for years for how it handles content involving the Middle East. Such criticism shot up further after the start of the war, with rights groups accusing it of suppressing content supportive of Palestinians on Facebook and Instagram.
Palestinians say Microsoft unfairly closing their accounts
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cger582weplo
Palestinians living abroad have accused Microsoft of closing their email accounts without warning - cutting them off from crucial online services.
They say it has left them unable to access bank accounts and job offers - and stopped them using Skype, which Microsoft owns, to contact relatives in war-torn Gaza.
Microsoft says they violated its terms of service - a claim they dispute.
"They killed my life online," said Eiad Hametto, who lives in Saudi Arabia. "They’ve suspended my email account that I’ve had for nearly 20 years - It was connected to all my work," he told the BBC.
He also said being cut off from Skype was a huge blow for his family. The internet is frequently disrupted or switched off there because of the Israeli military campaign - and standard international calls are very expensive.
With a paid Skype subscription, it is possible to call mobiles in Gaza cheaply - and while the internet is down - so it has become a lifeline to many Palestinians.
Some of the people the BBC spoke to said they suspected they were wrongly thought to have ties to Hamas, which Israel is fighting, and is designated a terrorist organisation by many countries.
But Mr Hametto denied he had any such links.“We are civilians with no political background who just wanted to check on our families," he said.
Microsoft did not respond directly when asked if suspected ties to Hamas were the reason for the accounts being shut. But a spokesperson said it did not block calls or ban users based on calling region or destination.
"Blocking in Skype can occur in response to suspected fraudulent activity," they said, without elaborating.
