I’m unable to join Microsoft Teams meetings as a guest/anonymous participant and I’m stuck in an infinite “verify your info” loop.

1. Is Microsoft now enforcing “verified guest join” even for anonymous meetings?

Yes. Admins can now require verification checks for anonymous and unverified external participants on a per-organizer basis. When this policy is enabled, anonymous users who join via the meeting link must pass verification (for example, via CAPTCHA or email-based verification) before joining, even if the meeting URL includes anon=true and anonymous join is allowed.

Relevant controls include:

• Organization-wide setting: Anonymous users can join a meeting.
• Per-organizer policy: Anonymous users can join a meeting unverified.
• Teams Premium per-organizer policy: Anonymous users can join a meeting after verifying meeting, which enforces one-time passcode verification for anonymous users.
• Additional per-organizer policy to require human verification checks (CAPTCHA) for anonymous and unverified external participants.

If the organizer’s policy requires verification, anonymous join without verification is not allowed, and participants are forced through the verification flow.

2. Can a disabled Teams enterprise application cause guest verification loops?

Context only states that anonymous and external access behavior is controlled by:

• Organization meeting settings (anonymous join on/off).
• Meeting policies assigned to organizers (anonymous join allowed/blocked, verification behavior).
• External access configuration (trusted/blocked domains).
• Guest access configuration.

The context does not explicitly link a disabled Teams enterprise application to verification loops. It does state that anonymous users’ ability to join is governed by org-level and policy-level settings, and that external access and guest access must be correctly configured for external participants to join.

3. Why would even unrelated Gmail OTP verification end in a loop?

From the provided content, anonymous and external join behavior can cause repeated prompts when:

• Anonymous join is disabled at the organization level, or
• The organizer’s meeting policy does not allow anonymous users to join unverified, or
• External access/guest access is misconfigured so that external participants cannot be treated as trusted external or guest users.

In such cases, participants may be repeatedly asked to verify or may only be able to join as anonymous users, depending on:

• The Anonymous users can join a meeting setting.
• The per-organizer settings for anonymous join and verification.
• External access domain allow/block lists.
• Guest access being on or off.

If admin settings prevent unverified people from joining, participants may be required to either:

• Enter a one-time passcode sent to their email, or
• Create/sign in with a Teams/Microsoft account.

If those requirements cannot be satisfied due to policy or configuration, the user may effectively be stuck in a verification loop.

4. Is this a known issue with the new Teams verification flow?

Context describes the new verification capabilities (CAPTCHA and one-time passcode verification) and how they are enforced, but does not list specific known issues or bugs. It focuses on configuration and policy behavior rather than known defects.

Configuration areas to check (by the meeting organizer’s admin):

1. Anonymous join configuration

• In organization meeting settings, confirm whether Anonymous users can join a meeting is enabled.
• In the meeting policies assigned to the organizers, confirm:
  • Whether Anonymous users can join a meeting is enabled.
  • Whether the organizer is allowed to let anonymous users join unverified or must require verification.

2. External access configuration

• In external access settings, ensure that external participants’ domains are not blocked and are allowed.
• Admins of external participants’ organizations must also ensure that the meeting organizer’s domain is not blocked.

3. Guest access configuration

• In the Teams admin center, under Settings and policies > Guest access, confirm whether Allow guest access in Teams is On if guests are expected to join as authenticated users.

4. Meeting-level options

• For each meeting, the organizer can configure Meeting options, including:
  • Whether anonymous users can join.
  • Whether unverified participants must verify their info before joining.

If anonymous join is disabled or verification is required and cannot be completed successfully, anonymous or external users may be unable to join and may see repeated verification prompts.

Summary of possible fixes (admin/organizer actions):

• Ensure anonymous join is enabled at the organization level if anonymous participation is desired.
• Ensure meeting policies assigned to the organizer allow anonymous join and, if appropriate, allow anonymous users to join unverified or via one-time passcode.
• Verify external access domain settings so that organizer and participant domains are mutually allowed.
• Turn on guest access if participants should join as guests rather than anonymous users.
• For meetings where anonymous join is intended, confirm in Meeting options that anonymous users are allowed and that verification requirements align with the desired behavior.

References:

• Manage anonymous participant access to Teams meetings, webinars, and town halls (IT admins)
• Require verification checks to join Teams meetings and webinars in your org
• Errors when external participants try to join a Teams meeting
• Join a meeting without an account in Microsoft Teams
• IT Admins - Overview of external collaboration options in Microsoft 365