Report: Microsoft's Bing Serves Up, Recommends Child Porn

Microsoft's Bing search engine suggests keywords and images that could help pedophiles find abusive images of children online.

Certain terms surfaced child pornography, including "porn kids," "porn CP" (an abbreviation for "child pornography") and "nude family kids," according to online safety startup AntiToxin, which conducted an investigation at the request of TechCrunch after the blog received an anonymous tip.

Even when users searched for terms unrelated to child pornography, Bing would suggest illegal content. The search term "Omegle Kids"—which refers to a chat app that pairs up anonymous users, many of whom are teenagers, to chat via text or video—autocompleted to "Omegle Kids Girls 13," which produced a litany of child pornography. A search for the term "Omegle for 12 years old" had Bing suggest "Kids On Omegle Showing," resulting in more illegal content.

AntiToxin searched the desktop version of Bing with "Safe Search" disabled between Dec. 30, 2018 and Jan. 7, 2019. Google did not produce similar results, according to TechCrunch.

Microsoft has since removed the offending images. Jordi Ribas, chief VP of Bing & AI Products, told TechCrunch that he's now "focused on learning from this so we can make any other improvements needed."

Terms not included in the AntiToxin report still surface illegal content, though, according to TechCrunch. In response, Ribas said Microsoft's content-removal process—"a combination of PhotoDNA and human moderation...doesn't get us to perfect every time."

Microsoft is not the only one to have had difficulties controlling illegal content on its sites. Tumblr deleted numerous blogs with explicit material, including child pornography, after being banned from Apple's iOS App Store, but deleted many legitimate pages in the process.

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Instagram's IGTV feature also recommended "graphic and disturbing" content, including "sexually suggestive footage of young girls." Child pornography was also found contained in Bitcoin's blockchain, theoretically making the blockchain illegal in a host of countries across the world.

While concerned parents can better control what their children see on the internet with parental control software, it's clearly an uphill battle. As TechCrunch notes, "the Bing child pornography problem is another example of tech companies refusing to adequately reinvest the profits they earn into ensuring the security of their own customers and society at large."