os platforms
Report finds regional differences, especially outside the EEA, but it's still a dark tale claiming user manipulation
A Mozilla-commissioned report is claiming that Microsoft is indulging in all manner of bad behaviors to nudge users toward its Edge browser. However, judging by market share statistics, any potential efforts in that direction are not going too well for the Windows giant.The Over The Edge 2.0 report, commissioned by Mozilla, was published earlier this week and documents design choices from Microsoft that sent users into the arms of Edge. It also looked at differences in Microsoft's approach in Germany (as a stand-in for the European Economic Area (EEA) ), India, the UK, and the US. The conclusion? "Microsoft still does not allow users to download, set as the default, or keep using alternative browsers without harmful interference."
This might take the form of an "All you need is right here" banner in Bing when attempting to download alternative browsers, the pre-pinning of Edge to the Windows taskbar, and "misleading" wording, which, according to the report, could trick users into making Edge their default.
Then there is AI. The report's authors found that Copilot ignores the default browser when opening links, and that Copilot data-sharing toggles are preselected to ON in the US and India. The above highlights another finding in the report – where Microsoft has been forced to make changes (in the EEA), it has done so. The "All you need is right here" banner, for example, does not appear in the EEA, but does in the UK, the US, and India. There's also no injected Edge banner on the Chrome download page, and Windows Search doesn't automatically use Edge instead of the default browser.
