Microsoft has released its Transparency Report, revealing that 4.78 million Xbox accounts have been suspended. These temporarily suspended accounts violated rules and policies for players on Xbox consoles.

The company has taken proactive action against the 4.78 million stale accounts that violated its Community Guidelines on the Xbox platform. These accounts have been held for the past six months and are usually temporarily suspended.

The report, which provides insights into content moderation and player safety, covers the period from January to June of this year. It includes a range of information, including the number of reports submitted by players and details of the various “proactive enforcement actions” (i.e. temporary account suspensions) taken by Team Xbox. Microsoft says the report is part of its commitment to online safety.

The chart above shows the number of accounts that have been temporarily suspended since the beginning of this year through the end of last June. In a press release provided by Team Xbox's Dave MacCarthy, he had this to say:

We know Xbox is a special place for all of you. We believe everyone should have the opportunity to experience the joy of play, free from fear and intimidation and within the boundaries we set.

These unauthorized accounts can affect players in a variety of ways. For example, there are cheats to spread spam and artificially inflate friend/follower numbers. Further data revealed the company’s 199,000 proactive actions involving inappropriate content, 87,000 scams, and 54,000 harassment or bullying of other players, all stemming from 4.78 million suspended accounts.

The report also states that 100% of all actions were taken proactively by the company, rather than reported by the player base. This suggests that there was less reporting from players. Or that the same issues were fixed before players knew about them.

What do you think about the company's strict handling of improper or artificial accounts?