Microsoft Cracks Down On Racists, Sexists And Trolls With New Initiative

The Internet has the unsavory reputation of harboring some of the worst examples of free speech imaginable. People call each other all manner of names and some even go so far as to issue death threats. Microsoft has had enough and is providing users with a new resource for getting rid of annoying trolls.

Microsoft has already gone down a similar road in the past by initiating a censorship movement against content related to terrorism in May this year, Tech Times reports. Now, the tech company is targeting less nefarious, but similarly alarming behavior among internet users.

To report abusive behavior, users simply need to go to the website that Microsoft has set up. The offer doesn’t end with Live, where trollish behavior has been rampant since Xbox Multiplayer has been introduced. It also extends to offensive remarks on Docs.com, Outlook, Skype, and OneDrive.

Naturally, since this type of service can be abused, Engadget notes that Microsoft is also providing a page where users can request for their post or documents to be reinstated.  Anyone who feels that their content was not abusing anyone via their race, gender, religion, age, nationality, or disability has the chance to prove it.

In a blog post, chief online-safety officer at Microsoft, Jacqueline Beauchere wrote that the tech company has always had a policy against hate speech. This latest method is simply a means of fine-tuning their ways of combatting such behavior.

"For many years we’ve sought to protect our customers by prohibiting hate speech and removing such content from our hosted consumer services,” the post reads. “While neither our principles nor our policies are changing, we are refining some of our processes to make it easier for customers to report hate speech."

Microsoft is a signatory of the campaign being waged by the European Commission to fight online harassment. Based on their actions so far, the company is keeping their word.