They say it has left them unable to access bank accounts and job offers - and stopped them using Skype, which Microsoft owns, to contact relatives in war-torn Gaza.

Microsoft says they violated its terms of service - a claim they dispute.

“They killed my life online,” said Eiad Hametto, who lives in Saudi Arabia.

“They’ve suspended my email account that I’ve had for nearly 20 years - It was connected to all my work,” he told the BBC.

He also said being cut off from Skype was a huge blow for his family.

The internet is frequently disrupted or switched off there because of the Israeli military campaign - and standard international calls are very expensive.

Israel launched its offensive in Gaza in response to the Hamas attack on 7 October, which killed about 1,200 people. The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza says more than 38,000 people have been killed in the war.

  • ninjaphysics@beehaw.org
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    5 months ago

    The fact that so many international companies have decided to side with a major aggressor during this terrible event in history is one of the most awful things I didn’t expect to witness. We all know that big business and money shapes world politics, but damn… This is straight up horrible. It could be any of us for any reason moving forward.

    • jarfil@beehaw.org
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      5 months ago

      If business and money shape world politics… it makes one wonder why are there sanctions against Russia, doesn’t it?

    • Mycatiskai@lemmy.ca
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      5 months ago

      IBM machines were used to tabulate the census used to track the Jewish people in Germany before the war and during the Holocaust, they tracked and counted everything happening in the concentration camps on IBM punch cards.

      Look how far computer systems have come. Now Israel used an AI system and cell phone tracking to try to wipe out entire families.