Acceptable Use Policy violation notice on Microsoft 365 Developer E5 sandbox - SharePoint read-only at farm level

Gergely Gyetvai 95 Reputation points
2026-03-25T12:27:51.85+00:00

Hi,

Yesterday a banner appeared across my Microsoft 365 Developer E5 sandbox tenant with the following message:

"Your organization's use of Microsoft 365 has been identified as a violation of the Acceptable Use Policy in the Product Terms. The Microsoft 365 subscription will be deactivated on Tue Apr 14 2026 UTC and all SharePoint and OneDrive content will be blocked."

As a result, all SharePoint sites and OneDrive are in read-only mode — I can view and download content but cannot upload, modify, or delete anything. Checking the site settings on one of the affected SharePoint sites shows:

"This site is read only at the farm administrator's request."

I believe this confirms the restriction is applied at the service level by Microsoft, not due to any local configuration, storage quota, checkout settings, or app permissions on my end.

Some context about my setup:

  • This is a personal Microsoft 365 Developer E5 sandbox — no production use, no real users, no business data
  • Used exclusively for Power Platform development and testing (Power Apps canvas apps, Power Automate flows, SharePoint REST API)
  • No bulk email activity, no external scripts, no automation running at scale
  • My Microsoft 365 Developer Program dashboard shows 79 days remaining with no warnings or flags — contradicting the AUP notice

I have already raised a support ticket (ref: [Moderator note: personal info removed]). The initial AI-generated response suggested checking library settings, OneDrive quota, and app permissions — none of which apply here given the farm-level block. I have replied with the above details and am waiting for a human agent to follow up.

My questions:

  • Has anyone experienced this on a developer tenant and managed to get it resolved?
  • Is there any way to identify what specifically triggered the AUP flag?

Any help or shared experience is greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Microsoft 365 and Office | Development | Microsoft 365 Developer Program
Answer recommended by moderator
Gergely Gyetvai 95 Reputation points
2026-03-29T09:25:24.0266667+00:00

Hi @Anonymous ,

Thank you for your response and for the helpful resources.

I wanted to share an update: I can confirm that raising a support ticket is definitely the right step — as you suggested. I was contacted by Microsoft Support and had an online session with a Support Ambassador. She was extremely nice and supportive throughout the entire process. During the session, we collected screenshots of the error message and relevant pages from the admin center, and I exported and sent the requested logs.

Unfortunately, the specific reason behind the AUP flag could not be identified during the session. My case has now been escalated to an internal backend team, and I'm currently waiting for their response.

A few practical tips for anyone going through this process: once your ticket is assigned to a human agent, you'll receive an email that you will be contacted. Before the online session, it's worth preparing in advance — log into your tenant, open a SharePoint site that is affected by the restriction, and also have the Microsoft 365 admin center open and ready. The session was conducted via phone using Quick Assist for screen sharing, so connecting a headset to your phone will make it much easier to follow instructions while navigating on your screen.

I'll post an update here once I hear back.

Thank you again for your help.

Gergely

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  1. y2 0 Reputation points
    2026-04-17T10:40:03.5+00:00

    They decided to not to fix the issue but to block it permanently. Did anyone has got this response. Is it possible to get out account back.

    Hello,  

    We are writing to provide you with an official update regarding the review of your Microsoft 365 tenant.

    After careful investigation and confirmation from the responsible internal teams, we regret to inform you that your tenant instance has been found to be in violation of Microsoft Terms of Service (TOS) / Acceptable Use Policy (AUP). As a result, the restriction applied to the tenant is valid and will remain in place.

    We regret to inform you that your tenant instance has been blocked due to non-compliance. At this time, the tenant will remain blocked, and the enforcement action will not be lifted.

    Important Information

    The decision has been reviewed and finalized by the appropriate Microsoft enforcement teams.

    This action is in line with Microsoft Product Terms and Acceptable Use Policies.

    We are unable to share internal investigation details or signals, as they are confidential and internal to Microsoft.

    About Acceptable Use Policy & Terms of Service

    If you would like to review Microsoft’s Acceptable Use Policy, you may refer to the following official article:

    Microsoft® Online Services – Acceptable Use Policy https://www.microsoft.com/en-US/microsoft-365/legal/docid12

    Please note that contract breach or non‑compliance can occur for various reasons, including but not limited to:

    Using the tenant for purposes other than permitted use cases

    Absence of qualifying development activity for 90 consecutive days (for developer or test tenants)

    Overuse or misuse of service resources such as storage

    Activities that violate the Acceptable Use Policy

    For additional reference regarding program terms and termination conditions, please see: Microsoft 365 Developer Program – Terms and Conditions https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/office/developer-program/terms-and-conditions#6-term-termination-

    Additionally, enforcement may also result directly from violations outlined in the Acceptable Use Policy referenced above.

    If you are still able to access SharePoint or OneDrive content in read‑only or limited mode, we strongly recommend that you:

    Download any accessible files

    Back up any critical data as soon as possible

    This is to ensure you retain copies of your data while access is still available.

    Given that the tenant block has been confirmed and will remain in place, there are no further remediation steps available from Microsoft Support at this time. 

    Thank you for your understanding

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  2. pagna sreng 0 Reputation points
    2026-04-08T02:30:06.73+00:00

    I had the same issues, but I don't know what to do. I tried the support, but all the messages I got were AI generated that is not effective and don't understand the issue at all.

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