Bing is an online search engine, the primary purpose of which is to provide a searchable index of webpages available on the internet to help users find the content they are looking for. Bing does not host the content or control the operation, content, or design of indexed websites. Users come to Bing with a specific research topic in mind and expect Bing to provide links to the most relevant and authoritative third-party websites on the Internet that are responsive to their search terms.
Bing does not allow users to post and share content or otherwise enable content to go “viral” through user-to-user exchanges of information on Bing. Although as a search engine Bing does not have any control over third party websites appearing in search results, Bing’s ranking algorithms, spam policies, and other safeguards described below can also address and mitigate the risks arising from malicious websites that use other TTPs attempting to manipulate our search engine rankings.
Bing’s primary mechanism for combatting manipulative behaviors in search results is via its ranking algorithms and systems designed to identify and combat attempts to abuse search engine optimization techniques (i.e., spam). Bing describes the main parameters of its ranking systems in depth in
How Bing Delivers Search Results. Abusive techniques and examples of prohibited Search Engine Optimization (SEO) activities are described in the
Bing Webmaster Guidelines. These pages provide a deeper, more detailed understanding of how Bing algorithms work that cannot be fully detailed here given the space limitations of this report and complexity of how search engines rank websites.
As described in these documents, Bing’s ranking algorithms are designed to identify and prioritize high quality, highly authoritative content available online that is relevant to the user’s query and to prevent abusive SEO techniques (spam).
One of the key ranking techniques Bing uses to prevent low quality or misinformative websites from returning high in search results is through the “quality and credibility” score. Determining the quality and credibility (QC) of a website includes evaluating the clarity of purpose of the site, its usability, and presentation. QC also consists of an evaluation of the page’s “authority”, which includes factors such as:
- Reputation: What types of other websites link to the site? A well-known news site is considered to have a higher reputation than a brand-new blog.
- Level of discourse: Is the purpose of the content solely to cause harm to individuals or groups of people? For example, a site that promotes violence or resorts to name-calling or bullying will be considered to have a low level of discourse, and therefore lower authority, than a balanced news article.
- Level of distortion: How well does the site differentiate fact from opinion? A site that is clearly labeled as satire or parody will have more authority than one that tries to obscure its intent.
- Origination and transparency of the ownership: Is the site reporting first-hand information, or does it summarize or republish content from others? If the site doesn’t publish original content, do they attribute the source? A first-hand account published on a personal blog could have more authority than unsourced content.
In addition to its ranking algorithms, Bing’s general abuse/spam policies prohibit certain practices intended to manipulate or deceive the Bing algorithms. These policies include prohibitions intended to address the TTPs employed by malicious actors in the spread of disinformation. Pursuant to the Webmaster Guidelines, Bing may take action on websites employing spam tactics (such as social media schemes, keyword stuffing, malicious behavior, cloaking, link schemes, or misleading structured data markups) or that otherwise violate the Webmaster Guidelines, including by applying ranking penalties (such as demoting a website) or delisting a website from the index.
Bing partners with numerous organizations, including independent third-party organizations and teams across Microsoft, to provide information on potential information operations that can be leveraged to inform early detection and defensive search strategies for Bing and Bing generative AI features. For example,
- Bing partners with independent third-party organizations, such as trusted fact checkers, news publishers, and research organizations, that provide fact checks, trustworthiness indicators, and early indicators of information operations, such as narratives or hashtags, to inform early detection and defensive search strategies. These organizations provide information for EEA member states. Bing also monitors ClaimReview open protocol based web fact checks to inform threat intelligence and through that search interventions
- Bing partners with Microsoft’s internal threat detection and research teams, including Microsoft Threat Analysis Center (MTAC), to collect and analyse data on actors of disinformation, misinformation and information manipulation across platforms. These teams collaborate with external organisations and companies to support Microsoft product and service teams effectively respond to issues and threats. Through Microsoft’s Elections and Societal Resilience team, the Rapid Response System framework and a dedicated reporting site on deceptive AI content for election candidates, Microsoft also offers mediums for election authorities, including in the EEA Member States, to have lines of communication with Microsoft to identify possible foreign information operations targeting elections
