If you’re after a reason to not use Microsoft’s Edge browser then we have a big one: it’s feeding back every URL you visit to the Bing search engine by default. That’s a big privacy snafu.
First spotted on Reddit (opens in new tab), this problem all stems from the “follow content creators” option introduced in Microsoft Edge 112.0.1722.34 and is switched on by default. The tool serves up suggestions for content creators to follow in Edge. The aim is that you get a feed of updates from the creators in one place, rather than needing to visit a lot of sites of URLs.
However, it appears that this tool is sending information about every site you visit back to Microsoft via the bingapis.com domain. In short, tracking you and sapping your browsing privacy.
Before you rush to uninstall Edge and shift over to macOS, it would appear that this data collecting is a bug rather than an intentional information harvest. Developer Rafael Rivera told The Verge (opens in new tab) that instead of notifying Bing of the sites you want to follow, the tool “doesn’t appear to be working correctly, instead sending nearly every domain you visit to Bing.”
Microsoft is reportedly aware of the problem and is taking “appropriate action to address any issues.” Regardless, this isn’t a great look for the Edge browser, and gives us a good reason to stick with Google Chrome.
How to stop Edge sending your boring data to Bing
While Microsoft may be working on a fix, you might want to take action yourself to stop Bing from sucking up your browsing data. To do that there are a few simple steps to follow.
1. First open up the Edge Browser and go to the Privacy Settings; to do that select the Menu, then select Settings and click on Privacy, search and services.
2. Once there, scroll down to the Services section and toggle off “Get notified when creators you follow post new content”.
3. Then switch off “Show suggestions to follow creators in Microsoft Edge” and restart the Edge browser. Once that’s done Edge will stop submitting visited webpages to Bing apis, and you’ll have clawed back some browsing privacy.
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