MS Ads - Appeal Case Closed: Suspension Upheld

Anonymous
2023-09-05T20:19:20+00:00

Hi there,

I'm a new business and was attempting to set up a Microsft Ads account, using the email/domain as for all my other MS business accounts, when I was told I had violated the Terms of Use. I appealed and provided comment that I had simply updated the business information for Bing Places, and had only created the ads account.

Today I received an alarming email from the Trust and Safety Team saying the following:

Hello from Microsoft Advertising,

We have reviewed your appeal request of Manager Account G14xxxxxx and determined the account is in violation of the Microsoft Advertising Egregious Policy .

Egregious violations include:

  • Obfuscation of advertiser or payer identity, to include providing inaccurate identity information or documentation
  • Use of the service to facilitate illegal practices or content.
  • This includes promoting illegal products or services.
  • Malicious software codes (e.g., malware, phishing, scareware, ransomware, pirated software).
  • Any landing page or downloadable content which removes user control.
  • Ad content which obfuscates the intention or functionality of any downloaded product or provided service.
  • Circumventing or evading system service safeguards or monitoring.
  • Any content or action designed to facilitate gaining unauthorized access to any user, advertiser, or data, or manipulate the Microsoft Advertising service.
  • Deceptive or obfuscated content, cloaking, or spoofing.
  • Impersonation, manipulation or deceptive media, or deceptive use of name or brand to imply endorsement.
  • Excessive collection of personal information unnecessary to fulfill ad promise.
  • Emotionally manipulative or coercive content.
  • Attempting to circumvent our account suspension or other measures intended to enforce our policies or terms by creating a new advertiser account or Manager Account.

Additional Details:

Per Microsoft Advertising Terms of Use and Policies that you agreed to when using our product and service, we have suspended all ads, and access to all Accounts for all users within your Manager Account. 

The thing is hadn't even gotten to the stage of creating my first ad on the platform. The promotion would have been for the garden, which is open by appointment, i.e. people pay $10 to walk around it, and we're in the process of setting up a side venture selling imported French glasshouses but that wasn't going to be part of the ad as I'm still building that part of the website, see here: <removed by Moderator>

So, I'm really stumped by the suggested violations as 1) no ad or content had been created, 2) promoting our garden in NZ only isn't malicious software or illegal products, 3) we don't have a landing page as suggested, we hosting via Huspot, and 4) if logging in to appeal is an attempt to circumvent suspension then I really have no clue what I'd done wrong.

Any help greatly appreciated, this feels like something has gone awry, but as said I simply trying to create an ad account.

Kind regards

Ben

Microsoft Advertising | Accounts, profiles, and login | Account access

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Anonymous
2023-09-05T22:19:11+00:00

Hi Ben,

Thank you for reaching out to Microsoft Advertising Community Forum!

I understand from your request that your newly created account received an egregious policy flag. Generally, there could be a number of reasons why our system would suspend an account. For security reasons, we are unable to provide exact details on why an account has been suspended, but I've compiled a list below of the most common areas where accounts may be out of compliance with our advertising policies. 

Please see a list of important policies below to ensure you are following them. 

• Ad Content & Style (msft.it/6013gO1gl) 

• Financial Products & Services (msft.it/6014gO1gm) 

• Relevance & Quality (msft.it/6015gO1gW)

• Restricted & Disallowed Content (msft.it/6016gO1go) 

• Traffic Quality (msft.it/6017gO1gU) 

• User Safety & Privacy (msft.it/6018gO1gq) 

If you complied with all our advertising policies above, I would kindly ask you to submit an appeal. You can do that by following the email you received. You should have an option there where it says Complete Appeal Form. Please click that and follow the steps, and you reply will go directly to the internal team. 

Meantime, here’s an online support article to learn more about the Microsoft Advertising Egregious Policy and appeals process.  We also sent Private Message to further assist.

Updates to our network policies - Microsoft Advertising

Impact to your Microsoft Advertising account - Microsoft Advertising

**Margarita |**Microsoft Advertising Support Specialist | 1-800-518-5689 | Contact Us

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  1. Anonymous
    2024-03-13T06:49:31+00:00

    I don't wish to engage in your response, but having skimmed it, it's not helpful to you, your business, or anyone reading this thread.

    Perhaps reflect on your rage, consider employing someone/agency to help with your advertising, and always read the T&Cs before signing up for a service... especially this forum's.

    Remember, MS owes you nothing. They want to collaborate and help grow businesses, but your approach isn't exactly conducive to a B2B arrangement. Also, whilst you may wish to move to Linux, that doesn't solve your advertising, and besides you can use Linux on Windows these days.

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  2. Anonymous
    2024-03-13T06:36:07+00:00

    Hi Martin,

    My appeal was also auto-rejected. However, my issue was picked up via DM, and after some great collaboration with Margarita, she was able to resolve matters. I don't really know what she had to do to get things working on the MS side of things, but fair to say she really went over and above!

    After verifying that I was me and the business was my business, we spoke on the phone several times and via email, tried numerous things, plus Margarita engaged the dev team. It took a couple of attempts (casued by me not following instructions and using auto-login), but I can and have advertised on MS / Bing.

    The key thing, which at the time seemed slightly counterintuitive but does make sense (in my case), was that I was already registered and licensed with MS for other services in a personal context/account, and the business I wished to advertise was separately registered with MS for unconnected services. I assumed MS would know me as one entity, but looking at it, why would they? I'd never registered or tied the personal and business accounts previously, and the cookies in my browser and likely the data they hold were, as you'd hope, separate, resulting in contradictory non-compliant profiles. I only surmise on that.

    My thinking is that my trying to connect the two distinct and unrelated profiles on different domains triggered verification issues and failures, and then their automated processes kicked in resulting in the policy violations and ban.

    The resolution was that the dev/engineering team and Margarita undid the profile connection, essentially removing the business profile for Ads. I then logged in using my personal profile and was able to activate Ads for the business, similar to being an authorised person of the business. Today, I still log in as me rather than as the business, which is no different from how you need a personal account to access some Facebook developer or "proof of person" features.

    I'm not sure if activating Ads via your personal account will work for you, but it's worth a try. Then, maybe post your results to the forum for MS to pick up.

    Cheers

    Ben

    PS: To those shouting and trashing MS, remember that you get treated as you treat others and that this is a B2B relationship. If your business is so reliant upon advertising, it may be time to reconsider your business model/offering. If you think MS owes you something, then perhaps reflect upon how you approach business and others. After All, MS is a business (a massive one at that!), and you shouting and trashing MS isn't exactly going to endear them to help you out. Try a more collaborative approach, it's proven to work!

    PPS: I have no affiliation with MS; I'm just a licensed user of many of their awesome products!

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  3. Anonymous
    2024-03-10T03:49:12+00:00

    Exact same thing keeps happening to me and I have not been able to figure out why. I have filled out appeal requests over and over to no avail!

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  4. Anonymous
    2023-12-14T23:44:54+00:00

    I am experiencing this same issue with being suspended by Microsoft and I've not done any of the Egregious violations they state. My goal now is to warn any small business people I know to tell them to stay away from offers to create Microsoft advertising. It all a scam and just a way to get your information and then it blocks you from other platforms as well. There is no one to help you either so my advise to all is going to be to STAY AWAY FROM IT AT ALL.

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