I cannot turn off safesearch and stuck on strict in Bing in the UK on any browser even though I am over 18 (update: confirmed bug by MS)

Heather 5 Reputation points
2025-12-15T13:55:43.4+00:00

I am unable to turn safesearch off in Bing in the UK even though I am well over 18 and have had a account with my date of birth on it for decades.

I am stuck in strict mode on bing.com.

The UK does not require strict safesearch to be on, and I am an adult aged well over 18.

  • It happens in ANY browser.
  • Tried clearing cookies and cache etc
  • Tried a different internet connection too.
  • I am not part of a family, managed network, education network, or anything like that.
  • My friends also have this issue who are in the UK, so its affecting lots of us.
  • UK does not require safesearch on

Submitted an appeal using the form but is there anything else I can do to sort this as this is ridiculous and it is wrong.

EDIT:
This has now been confirmed as a bug, so make sure to still make a post and submit a appeal to report this issue so they know how many it is affecting.

UPDATE:

I spoke to Microsoft via live chat and they told me they have lots of reports of people in the UK aged over 18 who unable to disable safe search and are stuck in strict mode.

They said:

"It appears this is a recurring issue affecting UK-based adult users: Several similar reports on Microsoft’s Community Hub confirm that even verified adults in the UK (18+), with proper account age, find SafeSearch locked to Strict. This occurs regardless of browser, VPN usage, or account settings, not due to underage account, Microsoft Family, or explicit content laws in the UK."

Please make sure to report it as well, so they know it's affecting lots of people in the UK who are over 18.

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  1. AI answer

    2025-12-15T13:55:55.8033333+00:00

    It seems you are experiencing issues with turning off SafeSearch in Bing despite being over 18 and not being part of a family group. In the UK, if your organization has set the search experience to "School search," SafeSearch may be set to Strict by default. To ensure that you can turn off SafeSearch, you might want to check if your network settings are enforcing SafeSearch. You can map https://www.bing.com to strict.bing.com at a network level, which could be affecting your ability to change this setting.

    If you have already submitted an appeal and tried clearing cookies and cache without success, you might want to consider the following steps:

    1. Ensure that you are not logged into any family group settings that might enforce SafeSearch.
    2. Check your account settings on Bing to see if there are any restrictions applied.
    3. Contact Microsoft support for further assistance, as they may be able to provide more specific guidance based on your account and settings.

    If the issue persists, it may be beneficial to keep following up on your appeal and checking for any updates from Microsoft regarding your request.

    References:

    AI-generated content may be incorrect. Read our transparency notes for more information.

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  2. Anonymous
    2025-12-15T14:31:33.41+00:00

    I understand how annoying that feels when you’ve done everything right and still can’t change the setting.

    The root cause is that Bing enforces Safe Search based on your region and sometimes your network’s DNS, so even if your account shows you’re an adult, the system may lock it to “Strict” because of your UK IP or ISP-level filtering.

    A quick way to check is to change your DNS to something like Google (8.8.8.8) or Cloudflare (1.1.1.1), then restart your browser and see if the toggle becomes available.

    If that doesn’t help, try testing on a VPN outside the UK or a different network to confirm if its location based.

    Can you tell me if you’re on a home network or a work/school-managed device?

    That detail will help figure out if there’s a policy forcing Safe Search.

    Regards,
    Aron

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  3. Heather 5 Reputation points
    2025-12-15T15:03:47.1566667+00:00

    UPDATE:

    I just spoke to Microsoft support and they confirmed they have had multiple reports of people in the UK who are over 18, having safesearch locked in strict mode.

    So it is a bug affecting many UK over 18 users, but no idea if and when it will be fixed if at all.

    MS told me:

    "*It appears this is a recurring issue affecting UK-based adult users: Several similar reports on Microsoft’s Community Hub confirm that even verified adults in the UK (18+), with proper account age, find SafeSearch locked to Strict.
    This occurs regardless of browser, VPN usage, or account settings, not due to underage account, Microsoft Family, or explicit content laws in the UK."

    If you have this issue, make sure to report it as well.

    You can use the appeal form on the safesearch setting on bing.com and you can also speak to them via live chat.

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    10+ people found this answer helpful.
  4. Anonymous
    2025-12-16T14:10:06.2+00:00

    That clears things up, thanks for confirming.

    If Microsoft acknowledged it’s a bug, then you’ve done everything right on your end.

    At this point, the best approach is to monitor their official channels for updates or fixes since it’s not something you can resolve locally.

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    5 people found this answer helpful.
  5. Brian Doswell 0 Reputation points
    2026-09-19T14:09:39.9466667+00:00

    I require to delete safe search, and I have already submitted my photo to confirm I'm over 18, and this has been confirmed.

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