Microsoft removes negative flags from conservative outlets that have had their reach impacted

Negative flags that have impacted viewer reach and corresponding ad revenues have been removed from conservative outlets by the technology corporation Microsoft, according to a report from the Washington Examiner. 

Microsoft owns Xandr, an advertising company that was found out to have a blacklist of conservative media outlets that were compiled by the Global Disinformation Index. 

According to the Examiner, Microsoft is actively working to distance itself from the GDI. 

"I just checked in Xandr's platform again and can confirm that all rejection flags have been removed from domains," a senior executive anonymously told the Washington Examiner during an interview. 

Thirty-nine conservative domains were labeled as "false/misleading" by Xandr. 

Townhall, for example, is a website under a Christian publisher called Salem Media Group, and was flagged as "reprehensible/offensive."

Other examples of outlets that were flagged as "false/misleading," include the Washington Examiner, the Daily Wire, RealClearPolitics, Drudge Report, Newsmax, Breitbart, the Blaze, the Washington Times, Judicial Watch, and MRC.TV. 

However, the Washington Examiner received an updated internal Xandr dataset that states these websites currently don't have a designation and it's unsure if these outlets are allowed to have "approved" classification.

"We try to take a principled approach to accuracy and fighting foreign propaganda," a Microsoft spokesperson said over the weekend, according to the Examiner. "We're working quickly to fix the issue, and Xandr has stopped using GDI's services while we are doing a larger review."