Microsoft suspends 4.78mn Xbox accounts over community guideline violation

Microsoft has released its first Digital Transparency Report for the Xbox gaming platform, in which it revealed that the company took proactive action against throwaway accounts that violated its community guidelines 4.78 million times within a period of six-month, usually in the form of temporary suspension.

The report, which offers details on player safety and content moderation, covers the period between January 1 and June 30 this year, reports The Verge.

It includes a variety of details, such as the number of reports submitted by players and breakdowns of various “proactive enforcements” (i.e., temporary account suspensions) implemented by the Xbox team.

“We know that Xbox is a special place for all of you. We believe everyone should have the opportunity to experience the joy of gaming, free from fear and intimidation, and within the boundaries you set,” Dave McCarthy, CVP of Xbox Player Services, was quoted as saying.

The data shows that Microsoft’s “proactive enforcements” have increased almost tenfold since the previous reporting period, and 4.33 million of the 4.78 million total enforcements involved accounts that had been tampered with or used suspiciously outside of the Xbox platform guidelines, The Verge reported.

These unauthorised accounts can impact players in a variety of ways, such as making cheating easier, disseminating spam, and artificially inflating friend/follower counts.

Further analysis of the data reveals that Xbox took proactive enforcement actions regarding adult sexual content 199,000 times, fraud 87,000 times, and harassment or bullying 54,000 times.

Microsoft says that Xbox Ambassadors (Xbox community members who assist other players with general support questions) were invited to preview and provide feedback on the report and that all information was collected following the company’s privacy commitment, said the report.