Microsoft employees report that internal emails containing words such as “Palestine,” “Gaza,” and “genocide” were blocked from reaching recipients.
No Azure for Apartheid, an activist group of pro-Palestine Microsoft workers, said that all company emails containing the terms were blocked internally and externally.
The group said “dozens” of Microsoft employees were unable to send emails containing those words either in the subject line or in the message body. The automated system did not block terms like “Israel” or obfuscated spellings such as “P4lestine,” it said.
The filtering policy appears to have been enforced following protests by No Azure for Apartheid during Microsoft’s Build developer conference.
According to the group, one employee – Joe Lopez – was fired after disrupting Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella’s keynote address on Monday, May 19th.
🚨🚨 BREAKING 🚨🚨
undefined No Azure for Apartheid (@NoAz4Apartheid) May 22, 2025
Microsoft fires Joe Lopez for disrupting Genocide-profiteer Satya Nadella during Microsoft Build Keynote speech and bans words like undefinedPalestineundefined, undefinedGazaundefined and undefinedGenocideundefined in all company emails!!
Stay tuned for a full statement from No Azure for Apartheid! pic.twitter.com/3ZA6GznXHS
No Azure for Apartheid said it believes “this is an attempt by Microsoft to silence worker free speech and is a censorship enacted by Microsoft leadership to discriminate against Palestinian workers and their allies.“
In a statement to Cybernews, Microsoft confirmed it took steps to reduce "politically motivated emails.” Microsoft said a number of such emails had been sent to “tens of thousands of employees” in recent days and that it was “not appropriate” to contact large groups about topics unrelated to work.
The company added that it offers a dedicated forum for employees who have “opted in to political issues.”
BREAKING! No Azure for Apartheid disrupts Satya's keynote during Microsoft Build!
undefined No Azure for Apartheid (@NoAz4Apartheid) May 19, 2025
SHUT DOWN MICROSOFT BUILD FOR PALESTINE!#IOFOffAzure #MSBuild #SHUTDOWNMSBUILD #SHUTDOWNMICROSOFTBUILD #NoAzureForApartheid pic.twitter.com/AC7ERt57Cx
No Azure for Apartheid staged several protests during Microsoft’s Build conference this week, demanding that the company cut ties with Israel. Following a disruption of CEO Satya Nadella’s keynote on Monday, a Palestinian employee interrupted a Tuesday address by Jay Parikh, head of Microsoft’s CoreAI operations.
On Wednesday, former Microsoft employee and movement organizer Hossam Nasr disrupted a panel led by Sarah Bird, head of Responsible AI. As Nasr was escorted out, another former employee waved Palestinian flags and chanted, “Free Palestine!”
No Azure for Apartheid claims that the Israeli military uses Azure technology to target Palestinian civilians, an allegation Microsoft denies.
Last week, the company said that a third-party investigation found “no evidence” that its technologies were used to harm people in Gaza.
It said it has a commercial relationship with the Israeli Ministry of Defense and only provided “limited emergency support” to the Israeli government to help locate and rescue hostages taken by Hamas during the October 7th terrorist attack in 2023.
“We provided this help with significant oversight and on a limited basis, including approval of some requests and denial of others,” Microsoft said.
“We believe the company followed its principles on a considered and careful basis, to help save the lives of hostages while also honoring the privacy and other rights of civilians in Gaza,” it said.
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