A BBC investigation reveals that Microsoft is permanently banning Palestinians in the U.S. and other countries who use Skype to call relatives in Gaza.

Reportedly, Microsoft has been banning and wiping the accounts of users who have leveraged Skype to contact relatives in Gaza. In some cases, email accounts over a decade old have been locked, destroying access to banking accounts, OneDrive storage, and beyond.

United States resident Salah Elsadi lost his account of over 15 years in the dragnet. “I’ve had this Hotmail for 15 years. They banned me for no reason, saying I have violated their terms — what terms? Tell me. I’ve filled out about 50 forms and called them many many times.” Eiad Hametto from Saudi Arabia echoed the report, “We are civilians with no political background who just wanted to check on our families. They’ve suspended my email account that I’ve had for nearly 20 years. It was connected to all my work. They killed my life online.”

Many of the users affected by the bans expressed that Microsoft may be falsely labelling them as Hamas

  • Kyrgizion@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    225
    arrow-down
    5
    ·
    5 months ago

    Remember: today it’s “just” the Palestinians and you may not be affected or care. But tomorrow, it could be you.

    • BassTurd@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      42
      ·
      5 months ago

      Yep. If you ever shared a political opinion, that could put you on someone’s naughty list. If that someone gets a position of power and decides they want to attack, well, you could be the next metaphorical Palestinian.

    • /home/pineapplelover@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      4
      ·
      5 months ago

      First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist.
      
      Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a trade unionist.
      
      Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew.
      
      Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.
      
      —Martin Niemöller