REDMOND, Wash. — Microsoft said Wednesday that it will honor requests to remove Bing search results for nude or sexually explicit images when it is notified by a “revenge porn” victim.
The company went one step further and also will remove access to the content itself when shared on OneDrive or Xbox Live.
Microsoft has set up a new reporting web page, available in English to begin with and will be expanded to other languages in the coming weeks.
Jacqueline Beauchere, Microsoft's chief online safety officer, called revenge porn a "despicable practice" with effects that "can be truly devastating."
Microsoft said that when it removes links or content, it will do so globally.
“Much needs to be done to address the problem,” Beauchere said in a blog post. As a first step, we want to help put victims back in control of their images and their privacy. That’s why Microsoft will remove links to photos and videos from search results in Bing, and remove access to the content itself when shared on OneDrive or Xbox Live, when we are notified by a victim.”
Microsoft isn’t the first technology company to take a stand on revenge porn. Google and Twitter earlier this year enacted rules that ban the posting of nude photographs and videos without the subject's permission. Facebook and Reddit also instituted similar policies.
In addition, numerous states in the U.S., as well as the U.K., have criminal statutes on the books for acts of “revenge porn.”