Tech media outlet NeoWin published a blog post yesterday (August 5), reporting that Microsoft withdrew the “Domain Exclusion” feature for Microsoft 365 Copilot after it had been available for only 1 week (launched on July 29).
According to the blog post cited by IT之家, “Domain Exclusion” is a control feature for IT administrators that allows them to add specific domains to an exclusion list, restricting Microsoft 365 Copilot from citing these external sources in web-based information. Up to 1,000 domains can be configured for exclusion through a PowerShell script.
In its latest announcement, Microsoft said it was rolling back the feature. In addition to no longer rolling out “Domain Exclusion” to users, IT administrators who had already received the feature will lose the related permissions. Microsoft did not explain the reason for the withdrawal, saying only that it was “actively evaluating next steps” and would share more information at an appropriate time.
After investigating, the outlet suggested that Microsoft may have withdrawn the feature because some IT administrators were dissatisfied with its use of an “exclusion list.” These administrators believed that manually maintaining a “blacklist” was a counterproductive approach and that an allowlist might be easier to manage.
IT administrators need to continuously track “bad” websites, and the 1,000-domain limit could quickly be exhausted. The report noted that similar opinions also appeared in user feedback after Microsoft employees posted the feature announcement on LinkedIn.