How to change Bing Settings to turn off Bing SafeSearch off or block all adult content? Bing is Microsoft’s new search engine, but the strict filters may be blocking valid text content you need to surf. How can you change the Bing SafeSearch preferences from Strict to Moderate in India and many other countries, or turn on Strict filters in countries where the safe filter is set to moderate?
Edit Bing Settings
To edit the safe search Bing preferences, you need to look at the top right corner and the menu represented by 3 bars.
If you do not see the SafeSearch option in the drop-down, then go to Settings>More. Then you will see the safe search options on top of the screen. Choose the Off setting to stop filtering adult content from your search results.
You will note it is set to Moderate by default it seems, which means it will filter and block adult images and adult videos from your search results, but not adult text results!
Change Bing Safe Search Settings Off
If you do decide to click ‘Off’ and save, a popup box comes up, requiring age verification.
Click Agree to turn off safe search. But of course, by clicking the button you are agreeing you are over 18 years of age. No further verification they will check or ask for.
On the other hand, if you were turning off Safe Search, and if you are still seeing inappropriate content, you can report a concern to Bing team and they will look into it.
Block All Adult Content on Bing Search Results
Alternatively, you might want to block adult content in search results completely and safeguard kids or children browsing the web. In that case, choose the Strict option, and all adult content in search results will be blocked.
Default Strict Filters in Bing by Country
Historically in early days … If you do not see a SafeSearch preference option on that page, it means Strict Safe Search is enabled by default in your region. The Strict Filter will remove all explicit text, images, and videos from your search results.
Here is what typically will happen when you search for blocked terms
If you check the Google Safe search settings, they are set to Moderate Filtering by default, which means blocking bad images only. But the Bing settings are set to Strict if the option is not available in your country. So your text results are also filtered.
To change the Bing settings options, many people changed the country. Click on the country in the top right corner and select “United States – English”, or you can directly select US as your country. Now you can again go to Extras > Preferences and you will have the moderate safe search option selected by default, which will filter bad images and videos, but not text, from your search results.
On the other hand, if you are in the US or other countries where moderate filters are on, you can go to Extras > Preferences and change your filter to Strict, which will stop all types of offensive content in one go. This is a good idea if children are surfing the web and you do not wish to get surprised by offensive search results slipping through filters. Bing also lets you report websites with adult content if they are entering your search results with the strict filter.
Why Different Regional Safe Filters?
Microsoft has updated their blog on the safe search issues and informs that the filters are on by default and if you need to turn it off, you need to confirm you are over 18 years.
Update: Microsoft advises you can add adlt=strict to the end of a query and no matter what the settings are for that session, it will return results as if the safe search was set to strict.
Related – Learn how to block Youtube Adult Videos, or block Netflix and change Google safe search settings