Microsoft Bing

Report September 2026

Submitted
Crisis 2025
[Note: Signatories are requested to provide information relevant to their particular response to the threats and challenges they observed on their service(s). They ensure that the information below provides an accurate and complete report of their relevant actions. As operational responses to crisis/election situations can vary from service to service, an absence of information should not be considered a priori a shortfall in the way a particular service has responded. Impact metrics are accurate to the best of signatories’ abilities to measure them].
Threats observed or anticipated
War of aggression by Russia on Ukraine
Bing has observed instances of information manipulation with possible actor intent to manipulate search algorithms and lead users to data voids and low-authority content related to the Russia<>Ukraine conflict. Trends include the spread of antisemitic conspiracy narratives, increasing use of AI-generated content, including targeting Ukrainian and European political leaders, and attempts to influence LLM outputs by seeding pro-Kremlin narratives across online sources. In parallel, extremist and fringe communities are leveraged to amplify pro-Kremlin narratives among Western audiences.

Israel – Hamas conflict 
Bing has observed instances of data void manipulation to show low-authority content to unsuspecting users related to the Israel-Hamas conflict. This type of search algorithm manipulation could potentially be used as a tactic to spread disinformation. Other themes observed have included foreign influence operations speculating on the humanitarian crisis and scale of civilian causalities related to conflict and military operations in the area, often referring to manipulated videos and images circulating online and narratives on broader Middle East conflicts. 
Mitigations in place
War of aggression by Russia on Ukraine
Microsoft has been actively involved in identifying and helping counter Russia’s cyber and influence operations aimed against Ukraine. In addition to supporting nonprofits, journalists, and academics within Ukraine, Microsoft’s Threat Analysis Center (MTAC) team closely tracks cyber-enabled influence operations. MTAC’s work includes analysing the ways these methods are leveraged to target audiences in Central and Eastern Europe. 

Bing has implemented the following measures: (1) Defensive search interventions (2) regular direction of users to high authority, high quality sources as part of search algorithms; (3) remove auto suggest and related search terms considered likely to lead users to low authority content as part of moderation; (4) authority demotion of identified nation state affiliated information manipulation actor domains and (5) partnerships with independent organizations to maintain threat intelligence and inform potential algorithmic interventions. These measures are also integrated into Bing generative AI features, along with the additional safeguards discussed throughout this report

Israel – Hamas conflict
As part of its regular practices, Bing employs (1) Defensive search interventions (2) regular direction of users to high authority, high quality sources as part of search algorithms; (3) remove auto suggest and related search terms considered likely to lead users to low authority content as part of moderation; (4) authority demotion of identified nation state affiliated information manipulation actor domains and (5) partnerships with independent organizations to maintain threat intelligence and inform potential algorithmic interventions. These measures are also integrated into Bing generative AI features, along with the additional safeguards discussed throughout this report. 
Policies and Terms and Conditions
Outline any changes to your policies
Bing has not introduced specific policies related to this crisis, as it considers existing measures discussed throughout this report to sufficiently mitigate risks related to this crisis.