February 2024
Preamble – Application to certain Microsoft Advertising Services. While the MAA applies to Microsoft Advertising services generally described here, we clarified that certain products, such as the Microsoft Retail Media Platform (formerly known as the PromoteIQ Platform) and the Xandr Platform, are subject to separate terms and conditions.
Section 1 – Microsoft Advertising. We clarified that certain products or features, such as the Clarity Services, may have additional terms and conditions that apply to those products or features, and we included a license to Microsoft for customer feedback on all services (not only previews).
Section 2 – Content Usage and Moderation. We updated the MAA to note that Microsoft may need to (i) reproduce and publicly display, and (ii) disclose, as required by law or government and/or regulator orders, certain information relating to your use of the services. We further clarified that Microsoft reserves the right to review and restrict your content per the Microsoft Advertising Policies. This section was also added to the list of provisions that survive termination of the MAA.
Section 9 – Your Privacy Obligations. We added a definition of “Sensitive Personal Data” to further clarify that you are prohibited from processing data in violation of applicable laws or the Microsoft Advertising Policies. We moved references to the Clarity Services from this section to the overview of Microsoft Advertising.
General Contractual Updates. We updated the list of prohibited acts to include standard prohibitions against copying and reverse engineering the services and noted that enforcement of this section is at Microsoft’s discretion; we updated the dispute resolution language for the European Economic Area and the United Kingdom to include a reference to the dispute process outlined in the Microsoft Advertising Policies; and we clarified the contracting entity for customers located in certain countries within the Asia-Pacific region.
July 2023
Section 9 – Your Privacy Obligations. We have incorporated contractual language, effective July 1, 2023, required by certain U.S. state data protection laws to clarify our treatment of Company Data.
October 2021
Global Application. The Microsoft Advertising Agreement will now utilize the same terms for all customers globally.
Clarity Services. We have updated our terms to include our new Clarity services. To learn more about Clarity see: https://clarity.microsoft.com
Section 9 – Your Privacy Obligations. We clarify that if your use of Microsoft Advertising products and services involves processing the personal data of data subjects, you are responsible for processing such personal data as required by and in the manner dictated by the data privacy laws in your relevant jurisdiction.
Section 15 – Dispute Resolution. We have updated our dispute resolution language to apply globally and have updated the Binding Arbitration Agreement and Class Action Waiver for customers in the United States.
January 2020
Section 8 – Microsoft Advertising User Data. We made small adjustments to clarify the scope of the Microsoft Advertising User Data we do and do not share.
Section 9 – Your Privacy Obligations. We clarify that if you disclose Personal Data to Microsoft in connection with the services governed by the Microsoft Advertising Agreement (e.g., you disclose Personal Data of your users to take advantage of our Custom Audiences feature), you must disclose in your online privacy policy the fact that Microsoft receives such Personal Data.
April 2019
Bing Ads is now Microsoft Advertising. We have updated our Agreement and the new name for our commercial business across all our markets globally is now Microsoft Advertising. You can read about our name change here: Bing Ads is now Microsoft Advertising.
July 2018
Preamble – We clarified the relationship between advertisers, their agents, and Microsoft.
Section 1 – Bing Ads. We added language clarifying the components that comprise Bing Ads, as well as your options for participating in optional and pre-release features. We also included language that tells you how we use your feedback on our services. In addition, we added language describing your responsibilities around securing your account in light of new features, such as multi-linking, that give you greater flexibility in managing your account.
Section 2 and Section 9 – Content Usage. We added a new section that describes, in greater detail, our respective rights around Content, including a more detailed definition of what comprises “Content.” Similarly, we added more detail on how we use your Content, including for new Bing experiences aimed at increasing user engagement and traffic around ads. We also clarify the role our partner network plays in publishing Bing Ads and related experiences.
Section 3 – Prohibitions. We updated this section to better align with our Traffic Quality policies available on the Bing Ads site. In particular, we prohibit our customers from generating fraudulent clicks and impressions, scraping or collecting data from Bing Ads, and interfering with the operation of Bing Ads.
Section 4 – Payment. We clarified your payment obligations and our respective obligations around taxes. We also updated this section to reflect our new policy requiring payment disputes to be made within 60 days of the charge at issue being posted to your account. This change aligns with industry standards.
Section 6 – Indemnity. We clarified indemnification obligations of companies, such as advertising agencies, using Bing Ads on behalf of an advertisers. Specifically, that a claim brought against Microsoft by an agency’s advertiser is a claim triggering the agency’s indemnification obligations.
Section 8 – Bing Ads User Data. We added this new section to provide transparency with respect to how Microsoft uses data in the context of Bing Ads. We also define the data that Microsoft owns and controls in connection with Bing Ads.
Section 9 – Your Privacy Obligations. In light of new Bing Ads features and evolving privacy laws, we added this new section, which outlines our expectations of you when it comes to protecting user privacy. For advertisers participating in our Universal Event Tracking (UET) feature, we are requiring greater disclosures around your use of our pixel in order to ensure that users know when Bing Ads is collecting data. Further, in light of GDPR, we make clear that we restrict you from transferring the personal data of EU residents to Microsoft in connection with Bing Ads. Finally, for advertisers using their own data to better target their ads (e.g., using our Custom Audiences feature), we make clear that you own this data, that you are giving us permission to use it, and that we use it solely for the purpose of providing services to you. We also require assurances that you obtained the appropriate consent to share this data with us.
Section 10 – Changes. To ensure that our policies reflect our efforts to continually improve Bing Ads, as well as our evolving regulatory landscape, we clarified our right to update or modify our policies at any time. We also decreased the notice period from 30 to 15 days. Finally, we added language that only requires us to provide notice of material changes to the Bing Ads agreement. This allows us to cut down on communications around changes like an updated office address.
Section 14 – General. We added “independent contractor” language clarifying that neither of us is working on behalf of the other. We also added standard language prohibiting assignment of this agreement without our consent.
Using Microsoft Advertising after changes become effective means you accept the changes; if you don’t accept, you must stop using Microsoft Advertising.