BBC News has spoken to 20 Palestinians living abroad who say Microsoft, which owns the voice and video chat app, kicked them out of their accounts. The total number affected is thought to be much higher.

In some cases, these email accounts are more than 15 years old and the users have no way to retrieve emails, contacts or memories.

Microsoft says they violated its terms of service - but will not say how - and the decision is final.

The Gazans say they have no links to Hamas - designated as a terrorist organisation by some Western countries, including the US, where Microsoft is headquartered - and accuse the technology giant, the most valuable company in the world, of persecuting them unfairly.

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[–] Squizzy@lemmy.world 12 points 4 months ago

There needs to be an international regulatory process with separate national regulatory agencies to address tech companies over reach. Sony will end any account that does a back charge even if it is a scam. Microsoft do this. You literally cannot get google support to help if you are a small business.

These services, to at least some degree impact lives and livelihoods to a huge extent.