Report March 2026

Submitted

Executive Summary

Microsoft Ireland Operations Limited, the provider of Microsoft Advertising in the European Union (EU), submits this report outlining its implementation of the commitments under the Code of Conduct on Disinformation for the full calendar year 2025 (“reporting period”). Microsoft is committed to preventing the misuse of advertising services to disseminate or monetize disinformation and to supporting broader efforts to protect the integrity of the information ecosystem.

Microsoft Advertising serves ads displayed on Bing Search, other Microsoft services, and third‑party properties. The platform connects advertisers, who provide advertising content, and with publishers, who display these advertisements on their services. To mitigate the risk of disinformation, Microsoft Advertising applies distinct policies and enforcement measures to advertisers and publishers, including restrictions on non‑compliant content and placements and actions against parties that fail to comply with applicable requirements.

During the reporting period, Microsoft Advertising continued to apply these policies and enforcement measures, focusing on targeted, policy‑based enforcement supported by transparency and cooperation with relevant stakeholders, consistent with the role of advertising services in the information ecosystem. Microsoft Advertising will continue to evaluate and refine its policies, enforcement processes, and reporting practices in line with the Code’s commitments and evolving risks.

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Commitment 7

Relevant Signatories commit to put proportionate and appropriate identity verification systems in place for sponsors and providers of advertising services acting on behalf of sponsors placing political or issue ads. Relevant signatories will make sure that labelling and user-facing transparency requirements are met before allowing placement of such ads.

We signed up to the following measures of this commitment

Measure 7.3

In line with this commitment, did you deploy new implementation measures (e.g. changes to your terms of service, new tools, new policies, etc)?

If yes, list these implementation measures here

Do you plan to put further implementation measures in place in the next 6 months to substantially improve the maturity of the implementation of this commitment?

If yes, which further implementation measures do you plan to put in place in the next 6 months?

Measure 7.3

Relevant Signatories will take appropriate action, such as suspensions or other account-level penalties, against political or issue ad sponsors who demonstrably evade verification and transparency requirements via on-platform tactics. Relevant Signatories will develop - or provide via existing tools - functionalities that allow users to flag ads that are not labelled as political.

QRE 7.3.1

Relevant Signatories will report on the tools and processes in place to request a declaration on whether the advertising service requested constitutes political or issue advertising.

Microsoft Advertising policies prohibit ads for election-related content, political candidates, parties, ballot measures, and political fundraising globally, including fundraising for political candidates, parties, political action committees (PACs), and ballot measures. These restrictions apply across Microsoft-owned and third-party services that rely on Microsoft Advertising to serve ads.

Microsoft Advertising also prohibits certain issue-based advertising, including ads that exploit political agendas, sensitive political or religious issues, or “hot-button” topics, as well as ads that promote extreme political or religious agendas or are associated with hate, criminal, or terrorist activities, regardless of the advertiser’s stated intent.

In September 2025, Microsoft Advertising updated its policies to address European Union Regulation (EU) 2024/900, reflecting new requirements applicable to ads served in the EU.

See here: Political content and Religious content.

QRE 7.3.2

Relevant Signatories will report on policies in place against political or issue ad sponsors who demonstrably evade verification and transparency requirements on-platform.

Microsoft Advertising does not offer its advertising services to customers or partners seeking to promote political content. For example, political parties are informed by customer support that political advertising campaigns are not permitted on the Microsoft Advertising network.

To support compliance with EU Regulation (EU) 2024/900, Microsoft Advertising updated its political advertising policies and introduced a declaration requirement for campaigns targeting the European Union. Advertisers must declare whether a campaign is intended for political advertising prior to campaign or creative creation or import. This requirement applies to all campaigns as of 10 October 2025. Campaigns or creatives declared as intended for political advertising are not permitted to proceed under Microsoft Advertising policies. See here: Political content.

Microsoft Advertising employs dedicated operational and engineering resources to enforce restrictions on political advertising using both proactive and reactive measures. Proactively, Microsoft Advertising applies automated processes to identify and block political ads from serving across its advertising network, including restrictions based on specific terms and domains. For example, Microsoft Advertising maintains lists of terms associated with known political parties, candidates, and ballot measures and blocks ads that would otherwise serve in response to searches for those terms.

Reactively, if Microsoft Advertising becomes aware that an ad suspected of violating policy is being served, for example, through a report submitted to customer support—the ad is promptly reviewed. Ads found to violate Microsoft Advertising policies are removed. Users may report ads that may violate Microsoft Advertising policies through publisher-specific reporting tools or via this form: Report a Concern | Microsoft Advertising.

These actions apply across all websites that use Microsoft Advertising to serve ads, including Microsoft-owned and operated properties (such as Bing) and third-party websites.