Microsoft recently released a set of tools and resources that let users report hate speech easily and directly to it, ultimately reducing the instances of such an event occurring in the online spaces under the company.
Now, the new web form is pretty simple to use to begin with, but to make sure that everyone can use it effectively, here's a quick step-by-step guide to help anyone along their way.
How To Report Hate Speech To Microsoft
Step 1: Head on over to the Microsoft support page for hate speech.
Step 2: Determine whether or not the content you'd like to report encourages hatred or violence based on age, disability, gender, national or ethnic origin, race, religion and sexual orientation or gender identity.
Step 3: Choose which country you live in.
Step 4: Choose which service you found the hate speech in. The choices include Docs.com, OneDrive, Outlook, Skype, Sway and Xbox Live.
Step 5: Indicate whether you're a government organization or not by clicking on the appropriate radio button.
Step 6: Provide the link of where you found the offensive content.
Step 7: Explain why you think it's a form of hate speech.
Note: There's no need to provide personal or sensitive information, as Microsoft won't have any use of it, not to mention that it's a good practice to not give out such details in staying safe online.
Step 8: Provide an email address so that the company can reach you if needed.
Step 9: Prove you're not a robot by completing the Captcha and click on Submit to send the report.
After that, Microsoft will review the submission and decide whether or not it's a legitimate complaint. If it is, then the company will take the appropriate measures, and if not, then it won't take any action. Also, take note that it won't act upon court orders or other formal legal processes.
It's worth mentioning that this move is similar to the tool that Microsoft launched back in May that allowed users to report and crack down on terrorism across its services, showing just how dedicated the company is in providing good environments on all its platforms for everyone.
"As part of our commitment to human rights, we seek to respect the broad range of users' fundamental rights, including the rights to free expression and access to information, without fear of encountering hate speech or abuse," the company says.
Long story short, users now have the power to clean up the spaces in Microsoft's services conveniently thanks to the web form, and even someone who doesn't have a knack for computers can likely finish up a report and submit it without problems.
Have you spotted hate speech and reported an instance to the company? If so, drop by our comments section below and let us know your experience with the new tool.
