Microsoft is facing a formal complaint in the European Union accusing the company of unlawfully storing data on Palestinians that was allegedly used for Israeli military surveillance. The Irish Data Protection Commission confirmed on Thursday, December 4, that it had received the complaint and said the matter is currently under assessment. With Microsofts European headquarters based in Ireland, the DPC serves as the companys lead EU regulator. The complaint was filed by Eko, a non profit group that campaigns for what it describes as people and planet over profits. In a statement, the organisation alleged, Microsoft unlawfully processed personal data belonging to Palestinians and EU citizens, enabling surveillance, targeting, and occupation by the Israeli military. The group claims the company violated Europes data protection rules. The complaint follows reporting by the Guardian that the Israeli Defense Forces used Microsofts Azure cloud service to store data from phone calls gathered through broad or mass surveillance of civilians in Gaza and the West Bank. Microsoft subsequently restricted the Israeli militarys access to some cloud services in September. Eko said whistleblowers have since provided new evidence indicating that Microsoft rapidly moved large amounts of what it called illegally captured data after the Guardians investigation was published. In response, a Microsoft spokesperson said, Our customers own their data, and the actions taken by this customer to transfer their data in August were their choice. These actions in no way impeded our investigation. According to the Guardian, the data in question had been stored on Microsoft servers in Ireland and the Netherlands, placing it under the EUs General Data Protection Regulation. The GDPR, introduced in 2018, sets strict rules intended to protect European consumers from the misuse of personal information.
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