Digital Safety Content Report

This report addresses Microsoft consumer services including (but not limited to) OneDrive, Outlook, Skype, Xbox and Bing. Xbox also publishes its own transparency report, outlining our approach to safety in gaming. This report does not include data representing LinkedIn or GitHub which issue their own transparency reports.

When we refer to “hosted consumer services,” we are talking about Microsoft services where Microsoft hosts content generated or uploaded by credentialed users (i.e., those logged into a Microsoft account). Examples of these services include OneDrive, Skype, Outlook and Xbox.

For this report, “content actioned” refers to when we remove a piece of user-generated content such as images and videos, from our services and/or block user access to a piece of user-generated content.

For purposes of Bing, “content actioned” may also mean filtering or de-listing a URL from the search engine index.

For this report, “account actioned” refers to when we suspend or block access to an account, or restrict access to content within the account.

“Proactive detection” refers to Microsoft-initiated flagging of content on our services, whether through automated or manual review.

Microsoft uses scanning technologies (e.g., PhotoDNA or MD5) and other AI-based technologies, such as text-based classifiers, image classifiers, and the grooming detection technique.

Accounts reinstated refers to actioned accounts that were fully restored including content and account access, upon appeal.

Microsoft has in-product reporting for services such as OneDrive, Skype, Xbox, and Bing, whereby users can report suspected CSEAI or other types of content.

In 2009, Microsoft partnered with Dartmouth College to develop PhotoDNA, a technology that aids in finding and removing known images of child sexual exploitation and abuse.

PhotoDNA creates a unique digital signature (known as a “hash”) of an image which is then compared against signatures (hashes) of other photos to find copies of the same image. When matched with a database containing hashes of previously identified illegal child sexual abuse images, PhotoDNA helps detect, disrupt, and report the distribution of child sexual exploitation material. PhotoDNA is not facial recognition software and cannot be used to identify a person or an object in an image. A PhotoDNA hash is not reversible, meaning it cannot be used to recreate an image.

Microsoft has made PhotoDNA freely available to qualified organizations, including technology companies, law enforcement agencies, developers, and non-profit organizations.

More information can be found on the PhotoDNA site.

As explained by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC), the CyberTipline “is the nation’s centralized reporting system” through which “the public and electronic service providers can make reports of suspected online enticement of children for sexual acts, extra-familial child sexual molestation, child pornography, child sex tourism, child sex trafficking, unsolicited obscene materials sent to a child, misleading domain names, and misleading words or digital images on the internet.”

As a U.S.-based company, Microsoft reports all apparent CSEAI to NCMEC, as required by US law. According to NCMEC, staff review each tip to work to find a potential location for the incident reported so that it may be made available to the appropriate law enforcement agency across the globe. A CyberTip report to NCMEC can include one or multiple items.

Microsoft complies with global regulations to take action against child sexual exploitation and abuse content it discovers on its services.  For example, pursuant to 18 USC 2258A, we report apparent child sexual exploitation content to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which serves as a clearinghouse to notify law enforcement globally of suspected illegal child sexual exploitation content. Microsoft also leverages the derogation permitted by European Union Regulation (EU) 2021/1232 as required for its use of PhotoDNA and other detection technologies in services governed by EU Directive 2002/58/EC.

This report addresses Microsoft consumer services including (but not limited to) OneDrive, Outlook, Skype, Xbox and Bing. Xbox also publishes its own transparency report, outlining our approach to safety in gaming. This report does not include data representing LinkedIn or GitHub which issue their own transparency reports.

When we refer to “hosted consumer services,” we are talking about Microsoft services where Microsoft hosts content generated or uploaded by credentialed users (i.e., those logged into a Microsoft account). Examples of these services include OneDrive, Skype, Outlook and Xbox.

For this report, “content actioned” refers to when we remove a piece of user-generated content from our services and/or block user access to a piece of user-generated content.

For purposes of Bing, “content actioned” may also mean filtering or de-listing a URL from the search engine index.

For this report, “account actioned” refers to when we suspend or block access to an account, or restrict access to content within the account.

“Proactive detection” refers to Microsoft-initiated flagging of content on our services, whether through automated or manual review.

Microsoft uses scanning technologies (e.g., PhotoDNA or MD5) and other AI-based technologies, such as text-based classifiers, image classifiers, and the grooming detection technique.

Accounts reinstated refers to actioned accounts that were fully restored including content and account access, upon appeal.

Microsoft both contributes hashes to and consumes some hashes from the GIFCT industry hash-sharing database. We have been contributing hashes since the database become operational in April 2016 and started ingesting hashes in the summer of 2017.

Microsoft leverages hashes to detect duplicates of known terrorist and violent extremist content on our hosted consumer services. Microsoft determines whether to action matching content according to our own Microsoft Services Agreement, Code of Conduct, and/or community guidelines.

For more information on the GIFCT hash-sharing database, including information on total number of hashes and breakdown by type, please refer to the annual GIFCT transparency report.

Our Bing search engine strives to be an unbiased information and action tool, presenting links to all relevant information available on the Internet. Therefore, we will remove links to terrorist-related content from Bing only when that takedown is required of search providers under local law. Government requests for content removal is reported as part of our Government Requests for Content Removal Report.

In addition to in-product reporting tools, users can report potential terrorist or violent extremist content on Microsoft services via this link.

This report addresses Microsoft consumer services including (but not limited to) OneDrive, Outlook, Skype, Xbox and Bing. Xbox also publishes its own transparency report, outlining our approach to safety in gaming. This report does not include data representing LinkedIn or GitHub which issue their own transparency reports.

When we refer to “hosted consumer services,” we are talking about Microsoft services where Microsoft hosts content generated or uploaded by credentialed users (i.e., those logged into a Microsoft account). Examples of these services include OneDrive, Skype, Outlook and Xbox.

For this report, “content actioned” refers to when we remove a piece of user-generated content from our services and/or block user access to a piece of user-generated content.

For purposes of Bing, “content actioned” may also mean filtering or de-listing a URL from the search engine index.

For this report, “account actioned” refers to when we suspend or block access to an account, or restrict access to content within the account.

“Proactive detection” refers to Microsoft-initiated flagging of content on our services, whether through automated or manual review.

Microsoft uses scanning technologies (e.g., PhotoDNA or MD5) and other AI-based technologies, such as text-based classifiers, image classifiers, and the grooming detection technique.

Accounts reinstated refers to actioned accounts that were fully restored including content and account access, upon appeal.

In July 2015, when Microsoft announced its approach to non-consensual intimate imagery, also referred to as “revenge porn,” which is the sharing of nude or sexually explicit photos or videos online without consent, we said we would report the number of requests for takedown in transparency reports. A removal request is a request from an individual to have NCII removed from Microsoft services.

In previous years, we have reported this as “non-consensual pornography.” However, we have updated this term to “non-consensual intimate imagery” to ensure that the language we use to refer to this type of violation is respectful to victims and reflects the intrusive and damaging nature of this type of content.

Microsoft’s original announcement regarding this topic is available here, and another follow-up on this issue is likewise available here.

Microsoft has a dedicated web form for reporting NCII, which gives guidance on what steps can be taken.