Microsoft should suspend its investment in a new cloud data center region in Saudi Arabia until it can clearly demonstrate how it will mitigate the risk of facilitating serious human rights violations, Human Rights Watch said today.

In February 2023, Microsoft announced its intention to invest in a cloud data center in Saudi Arabia to offer enterprise cloud services, despite the government’s well-established record of infiltrating technology platforms and ongoing domestic repression. Saudi Arabia’s anti-cybercrime and data protection laws severely undermine the right to privacy, enable unchecked state surveillance, and allow Saudi state agencies to access data using overly broad and ill-defined “security reasons,” raising serious concerns about Microsoft’s ability to uphold its human rights responsibilities while operating in the country...

Microsoft has publicly committed to ensuring that the laws and policies are substantially in line with the Trusted Cloud Principles in the countries where the company operates. The Trusted Cloud Principles, an initiative by global tech giants expressing a commitment to protect the rights of customers, states that cloud service providers “support laws that allow governments to request data through a transparent process that abides by international recognized rule of law and human rights standards.”

Saudi Arabia’s laws and practices fall far below international human rights standards and the standards outlined in Microsoft’s own Trusted Cloud Principles, Human Rights Watch said...