Microsoft Advertising is tightening policies, adding enforcement details, restricting ads due to laws. New rules target medical, adult, gambling, and alcohol promotions.
- Microsoft Advertising is updating its policies to strengthen user protection.
- The company is clarifying how it enforces policies and penalties for violations.
- New regulations will restrict some types of advertising in certain countries.
Microsoft Advertising recently updated several policies to make them more straightforward and strengthen user protection.
The changes address new regulations and provide more details on how policies are enforced.
Transparency and Enforcement Updates
Effective July 1, 2023, Microsoft Advertising will implement a new policy that specifies penalties for advertisers who violate their guidelines. These penalties include:
- Ad and ad component disapprovals, such as keyword, ad copy, or landing page
- Store or product disapprovals
- A three-strikes policy for repeated policy violations
- Egregious violations that may result in immediate suspension of services
Although Microsoft Advertising’s current policies forbid repeated or severe violations, the updated policies provide more specifics and a framework around these prohibitions.
Recent Policy Changes
Microsoft Advertising has made some changes to its policies recently:
- Microsoft will now allow ads for vitamins and supplements to appear on their ad network.
- However, ads cannot make exaggerated health claims about the products, like saying they can thoroughly cleanse the liver.
- Any ads for vitamins and supplements must link to a product page, not an advertorial article or video.
- Microsoft will permit gambling ads in specific markets and countries where gambling advertising is legal.
- Gambling companies must be approved to advertise in a given market and have proper operating licenses.
Upcoming Policy Changes
Starting July 1, 2023, there will be new regulations on gambling advertising in Belgium and the Netherlands:
- Belgium will ban all gambling advertising in the country. No gambling ads will be allowed after that date.
- In the Netherlands, gambling advertisers must ensure that their ad campaigns only reach users who are 24 years of age or older users.
- Gambling ads cannot target those under 24 in the Netherlands after July 1, 2023.
Effective August 1, 2023, there will be new restrictions and prohibitions applied to certain types of advertising:
- In Ireland, advertisers promoting gambling must use time-based targeting to prevent ads from appearing between 5:30 AM and 9:00 PM.
- Advertisers must comply with this restriction immediately if new regulations go into effect before August 1, 2023.
- Advertisements for clinical trials and experimental medical treatments will be banned globally.
- Adult-oriented advertising will no longer be permitted in Hungary or Poland.
Structural Updates to Policy Pages
Microsoft Advertising is reorganizing and improving its policy pages to make them easier to understand.
It’s moving some policy content to different pages so that similar policies are grouped together. Further, Microsoft is adding more details and examples to clarify the policies.
Information about preferences for platforms like MSN, Outlook, and Xbox will be moved from the policy pages to a separate help document linked from the policy pages.
Visit the Microsoft Advertising policies website to see the latest information. Some policy changes will go into effect after July 1, 2023.
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