You know whats annoying? Scams. I hate them. You hate them. Microsoft also hates them – and since 175,000 Microsoft customers complained about tech support and password recovery ads leading to scams – Microsoft has decided to ban these ads entirely from Bing. A new change in their advertising policy bans any ads that provide tech support or password recovery services.
The new policy terms are as follows:
- Advertisers may not promote online technical support to consumers for products or services that the advertisers do not directly own.
- Advertisers must not claim to provide a service that can only be provided by the actual owner of the products or service advertised.
 Approved example |
 Disapproved example |
Policy |
| Immigration Services www.contoso.comImmigration services from legal professionals. |
Passport Application www.contoso.gov Get your passport today. |
Ads may not claim an association with government programs when none exists, such as “.gov” in URLs, without documented endorsement from the government. |
I am sure that scammers will continue to find their way around the new Bing advertising policy, and as-such find their way into our lives. However this is a clear sign that Microsoft is listening to us when we complain about something – and so long as we keep an open eye for any suspicious advertising, and report it accordingly, we can help clean up the Internet!