ICCL files Gaza complaint against Microsoft
The Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL) has filed a complaint against Microsoft with the Data Protection Commission (DPC).
The complaint alleges unlawful data processing by the technology giant on behalf of the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) in Gaza.
The ICCL argues that processing by Microsoft Ireland facilitated the killing of civilians in Gaza by the IDF and continues to enable mass surveillance of individuals in occupied Palestinian territory.
It has asked the DPC to “urgently investigate” Microsoft Ireland's processing.
Whistleblowers
ICCL says that is representing a group of data subjects in the complaint – including Palestinian residents of Gaza and the West Bank, and EU citizens/residents who have frequent communications with individuals in the territories.
The organisation adds that its complaint includes materials from within Microsoft provided by whistleblowers.
“These are not abstract data-protection failures – they are violations that have enabled real-world violence,” said ICCL executive director and former Green Party TD Joe O’Brien, who served as a Minister of State from July 2020 to January 2025.
“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,” O’Brien stated, calling on the data watchdog to act quickly.
Microsoft ‘ceased and disabled’ services
Among the ICCL’s allegations is that Microsoft’s Azure cloud system hosts critical components of Israel’s ‘Al Minasseq’ system, which it describes as “central to Israel’s control of Palestinians’ movement”.
It also says that Microsoft’s processing enabled the Israeli military to intercept and store phone calls of Palestinians “at a mass scale”.
In September, Microsoft said that it had “ceased and disabled” a set of services to a unit within Israel’s Ministry of Defense.
This followed a review of the use of the Azure system that was sparked by a report in the Guardian that the IDF was using Azure for the storage of data files of telephone calls obtained through broad or mass surveillance of civilians in Gaza and the West Bank.