Outlook’s latest ad fail: promoting Steam account resales that Steam bans outright

I was casually checking my email after resetting my password to download a copy of DaVinci Resolve when I was served an advert for “Cheap Dota 2 accounts.” Clicking through took me to a website openly selling gaming accounts for up to $1,000, covering Fortnite, Call of Duty, Roblox, GTA, and more.

Not only that, but it's against ToS (terms of service) for these games to resell your accounts, and yes, even Call of Duty, an IP now owned by Microsoft.

Microsoft approves the adverts via advertising networks that then appear within Outlook, which makes this even more surprising. I’m also not sure whether to be offended that it thinks I need a Dota 2 boost, or that I even play Dota 2, joking of course.

Let’s go over just how messed up this is, and how Microsoft is essentially endorsing an extremely shady practice that could lead to permanent bans or worse for users who unknowingly think this is okay because it’s Microsoft serving them the ads.

Why selling game accounts breaks platform rules

Before we jump into why this breaks Steam’s rules, let’s first look at what Microsoft says about advertising in Outlook. On its official “About ads in Outlook” support page, Microsoft explains that ads shown in the free version of Outlook are delivered through advertising networks such as the Microsoft Audience Network and Meta Audience Network, and that advertisers buy placements through those systems.

Both approve ads using either automated systems or human review, meaning this likely slipped through the cracks of an AI rather than a human but is still equally concerning as ads appearing with outlook would come across as safe and okay for users by Microsoft and in this case the site linking me to buy Dota 2 accounts doesn’t seem too safe and if anything was quite shady.

Now over to Steam, in their Steam Subscriber Agreement (something users have to agree to), Valve specifically states the following:

Just to add insult to injury for Microsoft here, reselling your Microsoft account is also against Microsoft’s own Terms of Service, meaning they’re essentially endorsing a practice that even they themselves don’t allow.

Whether preventing account resales is properly enforced or not is a different story, but my issue here stems more from how shady this site was and how easy it seems to be to trick these AI systems that regulate these things.

Whichever way you look at it, this is not a good look for Microsoft. Sites like these often carry risks, including users having their details stolen, which also raises concerns about the growing reliance on automated systems and AI that sit at the core of Microsoft’s future strategy.

This also isn't an isolated incident, and people have been reporting the issue for at least a couple of years, with varying dodgy-looking adverts.

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