'Microsoft killed my online life,' Microsoft is reportedly banning Palestinians in the U.S. for life for calling relatives in Gaza

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(Image credit: Future)

What you need to know

  • Microsoft owns Skype, OneDrive, Hotmail, Outlook, and various other online services all tied together by a Microsoft account. 
  • A BBC investigation recently revealed that Microsoft has been blanket banning the Microsoft accounts of Palestinians living in the U.S. and other western nations for using Skype to call relatives in Gaza. 
  • Israel is conducting a military campaign against terror group Hamas in Gaza, with hundreds of thousands of innocents brutalized and displaced in the conflict. 
  • Skype has become an affordable lifeline of sorts for worried relatives calling into Gaza, but it seems that Microsoft is banning at least some users making calls for that purpose. 
  • In response, Microsoft offered only "Blocking in Skype can occur in response to suspected fraudulent activity." 

Today, BBC News put out an investigation having spoke to 20 Palestinians living abroad who claim Microsoft has permanently banned them from their systems for calling relatives in Gaza. 

Israel is conducting a broad military operation in Gaza as of writing, displacing hundreds of thousands of people on what it says is a mission to destroy terror group Hamas — although an unimaginable number of innocent people, many of which are children, have been maimed, brutalized, and killed in the conflict. Naturally, concerned relatives who live abroad in nations like the United States have been leveraging online platforms to contact relatives. One such platform is Microsoft-owned Skype. 

Skype might have fallen out of favor for general messaging purposes over platforms like WhatsApp and Telegram, but it remains an affordable service for calling cell phones directly via the web. Skype's phone-calling feature sets it apart from some of its competitors, and it has been described as a "lifeline" for those trying to ascertain the safety of relatives in conflict zones. Using it for this purpose may be risky, though. 

Skype isn't as popular as it once was for messaging, but its cellphone calling feature sets it apart from its more popular rivals.  (Image credit: Future)

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, the terror group behind the notorious October 7 massacre that killed hundreds of concert goers near Re'im in Israel. Microsoft declined to respond to the accusation, but claimed that it doesn't block calls or ban users based on geographical location. "Blocking in Skype can occur in response to suspected fraudulent activity," a Microsoft spokesperson told the BBC — potentially implying there's more to the story. Still, it's of little comfort to those banned, who aren't given detailed information on exactly why they were banned. 

Banned without explanation

Do we have any control over our digital lives?

Xbox is generally my beat, and I often hear from users on social media that they've been banned from their entire Microsoft account with little explanation. Given how much a Microsoft account can incorporate practically your entire online life, with email access governing password resets for your accounts, OneDrive storing all your photos and memories — being permanently banned without explanation can totally wipe out your digital life. 

In discussions with Microsoft employees behind the scenes on these subjects, I'm told it's very rare that someone is banned without a genuine reason, or by mistake. Although I have seen plenty of instances where a ban has been overturned too, implying that mistakes can and do happen. Being banned over trash talk in video gaming is a lot different to being banned for contacting relatives in a warzone. 

The bans might be tied to requests from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, limiting what Microsoft can say potentially. But given how much of our online life is basically handed over to big corporations like Microsoft, who are under no obligation to guarantee access to these services, it is alarming how they can just ban you with no real explanation or transparency. It's why it's important to back up your 2FA recovery codes, store your files in offline back up, and have alternative email provision for password resets where possible. 

Jez Corden
Co-Managing Editor

Jez Corden is a Managing Editor at Windows Central, focusing primarily on all things Xbox and gaming. Jez is known for breaking exclusive news and analysis as relates to the Microsoft ecosystem while being powered by tea. Follow on Twitter (X) and Threads, and listen to his XB2 Podcast, all about, you guessed it, Xbox!

  • NoLifeDGenerate
    They've been trying to destroy that little country for like a year and a half now, but they still have internet to be called? What a joke. I don't care who wins. Just get it the fuck over with. It's ridiculous it's such a long drawn out thing in the 21st century.
    Reply
  • bradavon
    Well, Microsoft is an American company and in the main America has squarely picked a side. I don't think that's a controversial statement to make.

    Angelina Jolie was right when she said, we just don't consider all lives as equal.
    Reply
  • bradavon
    NoLifeDGenerate said:
    They've been trying to destroy that little country for like a year and a half now.
    What a joke. I don't care who wins. Just get it the **** over with. It's ridiculous it's such a long drawn out thing in the 21st century.
    Gaza isn't a country. A rather basic outlook.
    Reply
  • NoLifeDGenerate
    bradavon said:
    Gaza isn't a country. A rather basic outlook.
    It's a city in the country, and that makes it even more ridiculous that they've been screwing with that city all this time and there's still people left in there.
    Reply
  • bradavon
    NoLifeDGenerate said:
    It's a city in the country,
    Depends if you mean the city or land in general. Like New city and New York state, kind of.
    NoLifeDGenerate said:
    and that makes it even more ridiculous that they've been screwing with that city all this time and there's still people left in there.
    You'd leave if people you consider foriegners were bombing the city you considered home though?

    The eventual answer to peace in Northern Ireland was recogonition and compromise. No one in Northern Ireland considered all the land theirs though, as both sides do here.
    Reply
  • NoLifeDGenerate
    bradavon said:
    Depends if you mean the city or land in general. Like New city and New York state, kind of.

    You'd leave if people you consider foriegners were bombing the city you considered home though?

    The eventual answer to peace in Northern Ireland was recogonition and compromise. No one in Northern Ireland considered all the land theirs though, as both sides do here.
    Yes. That's the smart thing to do, especially when everything is mostly destroyed anyway. Move the fuck on. Muslims control most of the middle east. If they're too stupid to unite and get rid of Israel, those ones need to pick a new spot further away from it.
    Reply
  • bill1996
    This is despicable. I had been a long-term fan of Microsoft, using Outlook for a decade, well until I read this news. An email account is virtually a passport to the Internet, and losing access to it without any clear justification or dispute mechanism is horrible to me. I switched to Proton Mail and cancelled my MS 365 subscription. Microsoft - you lost my trust.
    Reply
  • wojtek
    bill1996 said:
    This is despicable. I had been a long-term fan of Microsoft, using Outlook for a decade, well until I read this news. An email account is virtually a passport to the Internet, and losing access to it without any clear justification or dispute mechanism is horrible to me. I switched to Proton Mail and cancelled my MS 365 subscription. Microsoft - you lost my trust.

    Yup... tying your online identity to single provider is very dubious... because of that I avoid like hell all "sign using <❌>"...

    To good I do recommend using own domain which makes it easier to switch providers...

    what's scary is the MS push to use online account in windows -imaging being locked out of your operating system... yaiks!
    Reply