Forum Discussion
Search for shared pornographic images
I already have an active policy in Communication Compliance that captures shared pornographic images. Now, I'd like to perform an online search for images that were stored before this policy was created. Is this possible?
1 Reply
As of October 2025, Microsoft Purview Communication Compliance policies do not apply retroactively to content that existed before the creation of a policy. The system only starts capturing and analyzing messages, emails, or files that are generated after the policy is active. This design ensures privacy, scalability, and compliance boundaries for monitored users.
If you want to identify pornographic or explicit images that were shared before your current policy went live, you would need to use Microsoft Purview Content Search or eDiscovery (Premium) instead. You can perform a keyword or metadata-based search across mailboxes, Teams messages, and SharePoint or OneDrive files, then apply Sensitive Info Type or Classifier filters such as “Adult Content Detected.” However, keep in mind that this approach works best when Microsoft Information Protection has already labeled or classified such files. For unclassified older files, you may need to re-scan repositories using a Data Classification scan or Trainable Classifier specifically configured for explicit content detection.
In short, Communication Compliance policies can’t retroactively detect old content, but eDiscovery or Data Classification can help you identify and investigate historical materials. Please hit like if you like the solution.
