{
  "id": 19198849,
  "title": "Microsoft are rejecting your mail",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/11/09/microsoft-are-rejecting-your-mail",
  "topic": "tech",
  "section": "Tech",
  "published": "2026-11-09T18:36:47.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Lobsters",
    "slug": "lobsters",
    "url": "https://www.mythic-beasts.com/blog/2026/11/09/microsoft-are-rejecting-your-mail/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Microsoft has recently started rejecting emails sent to their mail systems, including hotmail.com and outlook.com. The issue stems from a lack of DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance) records on the affected domains. When DMARC records are absent, emails are rejected with the message \"Message lacks SPF/DKIM/DMARC Auth Records.\" Microsoft discovered this issue on Thursday, with over 500 instances of the problem occurring, but no prior occurrences.\n\nAfter adding DMARC records with a \"none\" policy to some of the affected domains, the emails were accepted again. DMARC records help specify how recipients should handle emails that claim to be from a particular domain but fail verification checks (such as SPF or DKIM). The policy can be set to \"none,\" which is essentially no policy at all.\n\nMicrosoft's change in policy, however, is quite significant and seemingly unnecessary. Previously, the company required domains sending over 5,000 messages per day to have a DMARC record. This new requirement was announced beforehand, making the current situation a sudden and unannounced change.\n\nThe company hasn't provided a clear explanation for this abrupt policy shift. It appears either intentional or accidental, as they have not yet managed to roll back the change. Microsoft has applied \"p=none\" DMARC records to many of its customers' domains, justifying this action as the best course of action to avoid unsolicited changes to DNS zones.\n\nEmail recipients affected by this issue are advised to complain to Microsoft, as they might be missing out on legitimate email from other providers due to this unannounced change. Additionally, those experiencing problems should consider moving to an email provider that actively addresses email deliverability issues.",
  "summary": null,
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}