Microsoft Ads Removed Over 1 Billion Spam Ads In 2024

Microsoft Ads removed or restricted over 1 billion ads for policy violations throughout 2024, according to the company’s latest trust and safety summary. The company says the spike in removed or restricted ads comes in response to a rise in more sophisticated scams, deepfakes, and other bad actors online. 

“Microsoft Advertising has remained steadfast in providing a safe and trustworthy platform for its advertisers, consumers, and publishers alike. In a digital landscape where change is constant and threats evolve rapidly, we’ve faced both familiar challenges and emerging risks,” said the company about its efforts to fight AI-generated scam content and deepfake celebrity endorsements appearing on the platform. 

Here’s a quick breakdown of how Microsoft Ads worked to prevent and remove spam on its platform last year:

• The company removed or restricted more than 1 billion ads. The majority of these were removed or restricted for misleading claims, brand misuse, or gambling content. 
• Over 75,000 advertiser accounts were suspended for egregious violations of the company’s policies
• 250,000 publisher pages were demonetized for violating Microsoft Ads content policies

Balancing Enforcement With Fairness

While Microsoft Ads touted its enforcement of its policies last year, it also emphasized its dedication to transparency, fairness, and correcting errors when they are made. The company says it overturned more than 1.5 million ad rejections made last year after appeals, along with reinstating 20,000 accounts based on appeals. 

Why It Matters

While AI has made it easier for people to generate content to educate and entertain, it has also made it easier to produce more convincing and less-easy to detect spam content using realistic depictions of celebrities, deceptive images or videos, and other misleading types of content. 

Microsoft is taking a strong stance against these types of AI misuse and investing heavily in efforts to ensure its ad platform will be a reliable and safe platform for both advertisers and consumers.