Microsoft said Thursday it had disabled services to a unit within the Israeli military after a company review had determined its artificial intelligence and cloud computing products were being used to help carry out mass surveillance of Palestinians.

The action comes after The Associated Press and The Guardian published reports earlier this year revealing how the Israeli Ministry of Defence had been using Microsoft's Azure platform to aid in the war in Gaza and occupation of the West Bank, including storing countless recordings of mobile phone calls made by Palestinians living in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza.

This prompted a series of internal reviews by Microsoft.

Brad Smith, Microsoft's vice-chair and president, wrote in a blog post Thursday that the company was taking step

See Full Page