Microsoft claims to have removed all images of child pornography from its Bing search results after an independent report commissioned by TechCrunch claimed that one could still find disturbing images of child sexual abuse on the platform.
The study, carried out by Israeli online safety startup, AntiToxin, apparently revealed that Bing was not only showing illegal images for certain keyword searches but even suggesting disturbing search phrases that yielded more child porn content.
The study was conducted from December 30 last year to January 7 on the desktop version of Bing with ‘Safe Search’ turned off.
In a statement to TechCrunch, Microsoft’s chief vice president of Bing & AI Products, Jordi Ribas, said: “Clearly these results were unacceptable under our standards and policies … We acted immediately to remove them, but we also want to prevent any other similar violations in the future”.