Hotmail’s epic spam fail is the latest headache for Microsoft
According to recent reports, Microsoft Hotmail (now officially known as MicrosoftOutlook) had some problems with its junk email filtering systems and opened the floodgates to let tons of spam into users’ inboxes.
Users have taken to Twitter to express their frustration, but it’s currently unclear what’s causing the issue. While Microsoft has contacted some affected individuals on social media with invitations to DM to discuss the issue, there has not yet been an official response explaining that this is due to a specific known bug or bug.
While we don’t have exact numbers on who was affected, we can confirm that the problem is widespread – members of the TechRadar team (including me) are bombarded with spam emails all day.
Hotmail is now trending on Twitter too, which must have made some Microsoft execs particularly angry, as these tweeters don’t even use the proper name.
Someone else’s Hotmail throwing junk mail into their inbox even though the filter is set to the highest privacy setting? Very funny. (Yes I know Hotmail is prehistoric – but when you freelance you always keep the same number and email address. So 1996 – it’s mine forever)February 20, 2023
Analysis: More trouble for Big M
Microsoft has had a full year so far. The big event for the company was the unveiling of the AI tool ChatGPT integrated into the Bing search engine (as well as the Microsoft Edge browser), but it took less than a week for the chatbot to launch Sending disjointed messages to users.
Now the tech giant is in trouble again as users are furious at the deluge of shady emails hitting their inboxes. The people already are post memes about the alleged junk filter failure, with some speculating that someone at Microsoft accidentally flipped a switch they shouldn’t have – we have to say it almost certainly doesn’t work that way, but it’s still an amusing one Thought.
In any case, no real fix is available yet, but we’ll definitely let you know when Microsoft fixes things. Normally Outlook/Hotmail allows you to set a specific level of junk filter protection. Set it high and the automated system will aggressively target potential spam emails, although doing so carries the risk of actually sending legitimate emails to your junk folder.
Outlook (like most email platforms) also has the ability to mark specific domains as spam sources, although this is rarely a useful tool as email spammers typically use domain generators to bypass such filters . The problems with the spam filter also interfere with Outlook’s “focused inbox” setting, which should only show important emails.
We’ve reached out to Microsoft for comment and will update this story once we receive a response.