Microsoft faces complaint in EU over Israeli surveillance data

Microsoft is facing a complaint in the European Union filed by a non-profit organisation alleging it illegally stored data on Palestinians used for Israeli military surveillance.

The Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) confirmed Thursday it had received the complaint against the US tech giant, saying it was “currently under assessment”.

Since Microsoft’s European headquarters are located in Ireland, the DPC is the EU’s lead data regulator for the company.

The organisation that brought the complaint, Eko — which says it fights for “people and planet over profits” — accused Microsoft of violating Europe’s data protection law.

“Microsoft unlawfully processed personal data belonging to Palestinians and EU citizens, enabling surveillance, targeting, and occupation by the Israeli military,” it said a statement.

The complaint follows a report in British newspaper The Guardian that the Israeli Defense Forces used Microsoft’s cloud service Azure “for the storage of data files of phone…