Microsoft Advertising account suspended – Individual verification blocked by incorrect Legal Business Name

roy 0 Reputation points
2026-09-03T12:34:31.1+00:00

My Microsoft Advertising account was suspended shortly after I created it and added prepaid funds.

I am an individual advertiser in Hong Kong operating an unregistered brand. During Advertiser Identity Verification, I correctly selected “Individual”.

However, the verification page shows my brand name as the “Legal Business Name”. When I enter my real legal first and last name, the system rejects it because my personal name does not match the brand name.

The account is now suspended, so I cannot access the account settings to correct the Legal Business Name. At the same time, I cannot submit the suspension appeal because identity verification must be completed first.

This has created a loop:

Suspended account → cannot correct Legal Business Name → cannot complete Individual verification → cannot submit suspension appeal.

Microsoft Advertising Live Chat is currently unavailable for my region, and Hong Kong is not listed among the telephone support locations.

Could a Microsoft Advertising Support representative please help escalate this for manual review and advise how the Advertiser Identity Verification can be reset or how the Legal Business Name can be corrected?

I can provide my Account ID, legal name, screenshots, and payment information privately to Microsoft Support if required.

Thank you.

Microsoft Advertising | Advertiser identity verification | Verify as a business
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  1. MS Advertising - Vahid 420 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator
    2026-09-03T12:52:46.6433333+00:00

    Hello Roy,

    Thank you for using our Microsoft Learn Q&A Platform!

    I understand that you selected "Individual" for Advertiser Identity Verification, but the system is incorrectly using your brand name as the Legal Business Name, causing your real legal name to fail verification. Since the account is suspended and verification must be completed before an appeal can be submitted, you are currently unable to update the business name, complete verification, or submit a suspension appeal. Normally, when an account is suspended, creation of a new account is not recommended because the outcome will most likely be the same as before. That being said, when AIV is needed to be completed as a prerequisite, but you are unable to update your details, creating a new account might be considered as a viable workaround. Before you take any further measures, please share the requested details privately so that I can assist you with the best course of action to take from here. For now, I hope the information shared below will be of some use to you.

    Generally, there could be a number of reasons why our system would suspend an account. For security reasons, we are unable to provide exact details on why an account has been suspended, but I've compiled a list below of the most common areas where accounts may be out of compliance with our advertising policies. Please see a list of important policies below to ensure you are following them. 

     

    Please note that under the Digital Services Act (DSA), all customers are eligible to appeal their account status up to six months after their account status change. Customers will receive an email notification indicating the reason for their account status change with an option to appeal. If you have received the aforementioned email, please proceed by submitting your appeal. That being said, you may require to complete Advertiser Identity Verification (AIV) at first, before you can appeal the account suspension decision. To learn more about AIV, I recommend checking the extended help article on this forum platform, as well as the relevant help pages shared below.

    How to Verify my Microsoft Advertising Account? (Advertiser Identity - Microsoft Community)

    Advertiser identity verification

    Advertiser identity verification appeals

    Our support teams are happy to discuss your account in more detail via phone, chat or email to provide review assistance, please see our support page to reach out! 

    I hope the information provided here will at least partly answer your question.  If you have any additional questions please do not hesitate to reach out to our support. I have also sent you a private message asking for further details. You are more than welcome to respond to me so that I can begin the investigation on my end.

    Kind regards, 

    Vahid | Microsoft Advertising Support Specialist | 800-518-5689

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