Rising threats. The pandemic has changed the way many businesses cater to consumers and transact online. Not surprisingly, this has also caused an increase in the presence of fraud and scams. To crack down on these efforts, Microsoft is introducing its advertiser identity verification program.

Launch. “We’ve already been running a limited test for several months,” a Microsoft spokesperson told Search Engine Land. “This next phase will expand to a small number of countries and verticals, but comprehensive release (ramp up and timing) is still being determined. In the future, we’ll enable all advertisers to verify proactively, but for now, we’re curating participation.”

The program will be available in Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, India, the Netherlands, Poland, Mexico, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Facebook recently implemented a two-factor authentication program to help protect user accounts. Google also has its own required verification program which users have 30 days to initiate and complete.

How it works. Microsoft has taken steps to ensure that the identity verification process is simple and automated. Advertisers will use government-issued, photograph-included personal identity documents or business-related documents issued by appropriate regulatory authorities to complete the process.

Microsoft Advertising will request advertiser identity verification for one or more of your accounts via email. You will have 30 days from receipt to complete verification-related tasks.

What Microsoft says. “This is one of our key investments to enhance digital advertising safety, which we hope to accomplish in partnership with our advertisers. We encourage all our advertisers to complete this process to fight misleading ads and deter bad actors. We’ll continue to use our machine-learning algorithms and systems alongside the domain knowledge of our human experts to further enhance this program,” according to a blog post today from Microsoft’s Neha Garg & Sandeep Krishnan.

When a searcher views an advertiser’s details, they will see the following information.

Identity verification help. You can read the official help documentation here.

Why we care. Microsoft advertisers should complete the verification requirements as quickly as possible to avoid interruptions in their ad delivery.