Some Microsoft employees are speaking out after noticing that their emails mentioning words like “Palestine,” “Gaza,” or “Genocide” are being blocked.
A protest group inside the company, called No Azure for Apartheid (NOAA), says this is happening to dozens of workers, and they believe it’s an attempt by Microsoft to silence employees who support Palestine.
Interestingly, emails with words like “Israel” or even altered spellings like “P4lestine” are not being blocked, according to NOAA organizer Hossam Nasr.
Microsoft has responded, saying it made changes to stop large amounts of political emails from being sent to employees who didn’t sign up to receive them. A Microsoft spokesperson told The Verge that it’s not appropriate to email thousands of coworkers about topics unrelated to work and that there are special forums for political discussions.
This email issue comes as some Microsoft employees — both current and former — are protesting the company’s contracts with the Israeli government.
In fact, earlier this week, a Microsoft employee interrupted the keynote speech at the company’s big Build developer event to call attention to the issue.
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