As Microsoft keeps adding new features to its Edge web browser, it appears that some of them may not be thoroughly tested before being introduced to users. This can lead to significant privacy issues, such as the inadvertent sharing of your browsing history in exchange for additional functionality you may not even be aware of or utilize.
Inadvertent data sharing: A privacy concern
Microsoft’s Edge browser might not be as popular as Google Chrome, but it holds the title of the second most used desktop browser. This success is due to Microsoft’s relentless efforts to promote Edge to Windows users in various ways, including prompting Chrome users with pop-ups and making it more challenging to set a different browser as the default option.
Edge boasts several unique features that make it user-friendly, such as power-saving options for laptops and 2-in-1s, video auto-play blocking, and the much-appreciated vertical tabs. Microsoft markets Edge as having the same Chrome technology but with added flair and “Microsoft’s trust.” However, this trustworthiness now seems debatable.
A privacy nightmare in Edge’s current form
The truth is that most browsers “phone home,” and sometimes this is not even intentional but rather due to bugs or misconfigurations. A privacy-focused Redditor discovered that an obscure feature in Microsoft Edge, which allows users to follow specific content creators via an address bar button, has become a privacy nightmare in its current form.
This feature seems to prompt Edge to send a request to bingapis.com every time a user visits a website, essentially leaking the user’s entire browsing history to Microsoft. Stardock engineer Rafael Rivera informed The Verge that the creator follow feature is enabled by default, whereas it previously only activated when visiting specific pages on sites like YouTube, Facebook, Pinterest, TikTok, The Verge, and Engadget.
Fortunately, Microsoft has a master filter that prevents Edge from sending certain domains to the Bing API website. The company claims to be investigating the issue, but users don’t need to wait for an official fix to address it.
Disabling the problematic feature is simple: Go to Settings -> Privacy, Search, and Services -> scroll down to the Services section and toggle off “Show suggestions to follow creators in Microsoft Edge.”
