Amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict, tech giant Apple recently removed messages about the war from internal Slack channels and suspended two channels for Jewish and Muslim employees indefinitely. Slack is a cloud-based instant messaging and collaboration tool, used widely by corporates and organisations for professional and organizational communications.
“We have a very important update to share with you today. We saw and heard your feedback. We’ve collectively decided that the only sustainable path forward is to briefly pause the Apple Muslim Slack channel. The Apple Jewish Slack channel will do the same,” a leader of Apple’s Muslim employee resource group was quoted as saying.
According to the reports, the pause follows Apple’s elimination of messages related to the Israel-Hamas conflict.
“We’re taking this action to ensure a respectful environment for our communities during a painful and tragic time. Employees may not be happy about the decision. We know this comes at a time in which we need community more than ever,” a person familiar with the channel was quoted by Business Insider.
The contents of the messages deleted by Apple have not been confirmed. In one Slack message that Insider claims to have seen, an employee observed that off-limits topics for Muslim employees appeared to be organizing efforts, protests, Quran verses, frustration with the situation in Gaza, and “certain words that are said by international organizations.”
According to reports, Apple CEO Tim Cook is still tight-lipped about the war. However, reports mention that he did send at least one company-wide email to employees shortly after the October 7 Hamas attacks.
“Like so many of you, I am devastated by the horrific attacks in Israel and the tragic reports coming out of the region,” Cook said in an email to employees on October 9. “My heart goes out to the victims, those who have lost loved ones, and all of the innocent people who are suffering as a result of this violence.”
Apple isn’t the only company that moderates employee debates about the Israel-Hamas conflict. Microsoft also recently terminated a similar employee discussion.
One employee wrote on Microsoft’s internal “all company” message board that he felt a “strong sense of disillusionment with our work and the company” because of what he saw as “one-sided statements” by the company’s senior leaders in support of Israel. After about 60 comments, Microsoft shut the debate.
